Antibody producing non-human animals

ABSTRACT

Described are transgenic, non-human animals comprising a nucleic acid encoding an immunoglobulin light chain, whereby the immunoglobulin light chain is a common human, human-like, or humanized light chain. Further provided is methods for producing an immunoglobulin from the transgenic, non-human animal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/140,321, filed Apr. 27, 2016, pending, which is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/931,955, filed Feb. 14, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/292,414, filed Nov. 30, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,919,257, which is a continuation of PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/NL2004/000386, filed on May 28, 2004, designating the United States of America, and published in English, as PCT International Publication No. WO 2004/106375 A1 on Dec. 9, 2004, which application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 03076671.1 filed on May 30, 2003, the contents of the entirety of each of which is incorporated herein by this reference.

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/140,321, filed Apr. 27, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/589,181, filed Oct. 19, 2009, pending, which application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/459,285, filed Jun. 29, 2009, now abandoned, which applications claim the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/133,274, filed Jun. 27, 2008, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated herein by this reference.

STATEMENT ACCORDING TO 37 C.F.R. § 1.821(c) or (e)—SEQUENCE LISTING SUBMITTED AS A TXT FILE

Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 1.821(c) or (e), files containing a TXT version of the Sequence Listing has been submitted concomitant with this application, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The application relates to the field of molecular biology, in particular, to medical molecular biology.

BACKGROUND

Specific recognition plays an important role in modern medical biology. Receptor-ligand interactions, immune responses, infections, enzymatic conversions are all based on specific recognition between molecules. Of particular interest are specific protein-protein interactions, which give a vast array of possibilities to interfere in all kinds of biological processes. Throughout nature, biological processes are found that depend on more than one (simultaneous) protein-interaction. At the present time, it seems that interfering at more than one point in a biological process is going to be more effective than a single interference. Particularly in antibody therapy, it is seen that one (monoclonal) antibody is often not effective enough for treating a particular disorder and/or disease. Therefore, the attention of many medical researchers is now focused on combination therapies. Well-known examples of combinations of antibodies that are presently clinically pursued are for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the combination of the already approved anti-CD20 antibody Rituxan with the anti-CD22 antibody Epratuzumab from AmGen, and for the treatment of Hepatitis B, a combination of two human antibodies being developed by XTL Pharmaceuticals (E. Galun et al., Hepatology (2002) 35:673-679). However, the combination of multiple (two or more) drugs (be it antibodies or other) has a number of technical, practical and regulatory drawbacks. The drugs were typically not designed as combinations and development with optimal clinical efficacy and compatibility may be a problem. As an example, conditions for stabilizing the one may be detrimental to stability of the other(s). Furthermore, multiple sources of recombinant production lead to multiple sources of risks, such as, viral contamination, prion contamination and the like.

B cells mediate humoral immunity by producing specific antibodies. The basic structural subunit of an antibody (Ab) is an immunoglobulin (Ig) molecule. Ig molecules consist of a complex of two identical heavy (H) and two identical light (L) polypeptide chains. At the amino terminus of each H chain and L chain is a region that varies in amino acid sequence named the variable (V) region. The remaining portion of the H and L chains is relatively constant in amino acid sequence and is named the constant (C) region. In an Ig molecule, the H and L chain V regions (VH and VL) are juxtaposed to form the potential antigen-binding site. The genes that encode H and L chain V regions are assembled somatically from segments of germline DNA during precursor B (pre-B) cell differentiation: V, D and J gene segments for the H chain and V and J gene segments for the L chain. Within Ig V regions are three regions of greatest amino acid sequence variability that interact to form the antigen-recognition site and are thus referred to as complementarity determining regions (CDRs).

The V gene segment encodes the bulk of the V region domain, including CDR1 and CDR2. Diversity in CDR1 and CDR2 derives from sequence heterogeneity among multiple different germline-encoded V segments. CDR3 is encoded by sequences that are formed by the joining of H chain V, D, and J gene segments and L chain V and J segments and by mechanisms that create nucleotide sequence heterogeneity where these segments are combined. Additional diversity may be derived from pairing of different H and L chain V regions. Collectively these processes yield a primary repertoire of antibodies encoded by germline gene segments and expressed by newly formed B cells.

An additional source of antibody diversity is imposed on top of the diversity generated by recombination of Ig gene segments. B cells are able to introduce mutations into the antibody V regions that they express, a process called somatic hypermutation. Thus, when an animal first encounters an antigen, the antigen binds to a specific B cell which happens to carry antibodies which have a V domain which binds the antigen. This primary response may activate this B cell to go on to secrete the cognate antibody. These activated B cells can also now target a somatic mutation process to their rearranged antibody gene segments and thus allow the production of daughter cells which make variants of the antibodies of the primary response. A selection process amplifies those variant B cell descendants which make an antibody of improved affinity of the antigen. In B cells, somatic hypermutations are targeted to a restricted genomic region including both the rearranged VH and VL genes. Thus somatic mutation allows affinity maturation—the production and selection of high affinity antibodies. Therefore, somatic mutation is important for the generation of high affinity antibodies.

The exquisite specificity and high affinity of antibodies and the discovery of hybridoma technology allowing the generation of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has generated great expectations for their utilization as targeted therapeutics for human diseases. MAbs are identical because they are produced by a single B cell and its progeny. MAbs are made by fusing the spleen cells from a mouse that has been immunized with the desired antigen with myeloma cells to generate immortalized hybridomas. One of the major impediments facing the development of in vivo applications for mAbs in humans is the intrinsic immunogenicity of non-human Igs. Patients respond to therapeutic doses of mouse mAbs by making antibodies against the mouse Ig sequences (Human Anti Mouse Antibodies; HAMA), causing acute toxicity, alter their biodistribution and accelerate clearance, thus reducing the efficacy of subsequent administrations (Mirick et al. (2004), Q. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging 48:251-257).

To circumvent the generation of HAMA, antibody humanization methods have been developed in an attempt to produce mAbs with decreased immunogenicity when applied to humans. These endeavors have yielded various recombinant DNA-based approaches aimed at increasing the content of human amino acid sequences in mAbs while retaining the specificity and affinity of the parental non-human antibody. Humanization began with the construction of mouse-human chimeric mAbs (S. L. Morrison et al. (1984), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:6851-5), in which the Ig C regions in murine mAbs were replaced by human C regions. Chimeric mAbs contain 60-70% of human amino acid sequences and are considerably less immunogenic than their murine counterparts when injected into humans, albeit that a human anti-chimeric antibody response was still observed (W. Y. Hwang et al. (2005), Methods 36:3-10).

In attempts to further humanize murine mAbs, CDR grafting was developed. In CDR grafting, murine antibodies are humanized by grafting their CDRs onto the VL and VH frameworks of human Ig molecules, while retaining those murine framework residues deemed essential for specificity and affinity (P. T. Jones et al. (1986), Nature 321:522). Overall, CDR-grafted antibodies consist of more than 80% human amino acid sequences (C. Queen et al. (1989), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86:10029; P. Carter et al. (1992), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89:4285). Despite these efforts, CDR-grafted, humanized antibodies were shown to still evoke an antibody response against the grafted V region (W. Y. Hwang et al. (2005), Methods 36:3).

Subsequently to CDR grafting, humanization methods based on different paradigms such as resurfacing (E. A. Padlan et al. (1991), Mol. Immunol. 28:489), superhumanization (P. Tan D. A. et al. (2002), J. Immunol. 169:1119), human string content optimization (G. A. Lazar et al. (2007), Mol. Immunol. 44:1986) and humaneering have been developed in an attempt to further decrease the content of non-human sequences in therapeutic mAbs (J. C. Almagro et al. (2008), Frontiers in Bioscience 13:1619). As in CDR grafting approaches, these methods rely on analyses of the antibody structure and sequence comparison of the non-human and human mAbs in order to evaluate the impact of the humanization process into immunogenicity of the final product. When comparing the immunogenicity of chimeric and humanized antibodies, humanization of variable regions appears to decrease immunogenicity further (W. Y. Hwang et al. (2005), Methods 36:3-10).

De-immunization is another approach developed to reduce the immunogenicity of chimeric or mouse antibodies. It involves the identification of linear T-cell epitopes in the antibody of interest, using bioinformatics, and their subsequent replacement by site-directed mutagenesis to human or non-immunogenic sequences (WO 09852976A1, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference). Although de-immunized antibodies exhibited reduced immunogenicity in primates, compared with their chimeric counterparts, some loss of binding affinity was observed (M. Jain et al. (2007), Trends in Biotechnol. 25:307).

The development of phage display technology complemented and extended humanization approaches in attempts to obtain less immunogenic mAbs for therapy in humans. In phage display, large collections (“libraries”) of human antibody VH and VL regions are expressed on the surface of filamentous bacteriophage particles. From these libraries, rare phages are selected through binding interaction with antigen; soluble antibody fragments are expressed from infected bacteria and the affinity of binding of selected antibodies is improved by mutation (G. Winter et al. (1994), Annu. Rev. Immunol. 12:433). The process mimics immune selection, and antibodies with many different bindings specificities have been isolated using this approach (H. R. Hoogenboom et al. (2005), Nat. Biotechnol. 23:1105). Various sources of H and L chain V regions have been used to construct phage display libraries including those isolated from non-immune or immune donors. In addition, phage display libraries have been constructed of V regions that contain artificially randomized synthetic CDR regions in order to create additional diversity. Often, antibodies obtained from phage display libraries are subjected to in vitro affinity maturation to obtain high affinity antibodies (H. R. Hoogenboom et al. (2005), Nat. Biotechnol. 23:1105).

The creation of transgenic mouse strains producing human antibodies in the absence of mouse antibodies has provided another technology platform for the generation of specific and high affinity human mAbs for application in humans. In these transgenic animals, the endogenous mouse antibody machinery is inactivated and replaced by human Ig loci to substantially reproduce the human humoral immune system in mice (A. Jakobovits et al. (2007), Nat. Biotechnol. 25:1134; N. Lonberg (2005), Nat. Biotechnol. 23:1117). B cell development as well as Ig diversification by recombination of gene segments is faithfully reproduced in these mice, leading to a diverse repertoire of murine B cells expressing human Igs. By immunizing these mice with antigens, it was further demonstrated that these transgenic animals accumulated somatic mutations in the V regions of both heavy and light chains to produce a wide diversity of high-affinity human mAbs (N. Lonberg (2005), Nat. Biotechnol. 23:1117).

The question, whether “fully human” mAbs such as derived from phage display libraries or transgenic mice are less immunogenic than humanized mAbs cannot be answered yet, because full immunogenicity data are available for just two human mAbs. An anti-tumor necrosis factor mAb, developed from phage-displayed human libraries induced antibody responses in 12% of patients—at the higher end of the incidence of anti-antibody responses of the humanized antibodies (W. Y. Hwang et al. (2005), Methods 36:3-10).

Evaluation of the immunogenicity of the first registered human mAb generated by the transgenic approach demonstrated that mAb treatment resulted in the generation of antibodies in approximately 5.5% of treated cancer patients (A. Jakobovits et al. (2007), Nat. Biotechnol. 25:1134; J. A. Lofgren et al. (2007), J. Immunol. 178:7467)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Described are combinations of specific binding proteins, such as immunoglobulins, that are designed to be true combinations, essentially all components of the combination being functional and compatible with each other. By producing true combinations, an avenue of further improvements in both the production and properties of the combinations has been opened up.

Disclosed are methods for producing a composition comprising at least two different proteinaceous molecules comprising paired variable regions, the at least two proteinaceous molecules having different binding specificities, comprising contacting at least three different variable regions under conditions allowing for pairing of variable regions and harvesting essentially all proteinaceous molecules having binding specificities resulting from the pairing. Binding specificities are defined as interactions between molecules that can be distinguished from background interactions. Typically, specific interactions between molecules have higher binding affinity than background interactions between molecules.

Specific binding molecules, which for an important part are made up of amino acid residues (proteinaceous molecules), often require the pairing of different amino acid sequences in order to build a binding site. An amino acid sequence that pairs with another amino acid sequence to build a binding site is referred to as a “variable region” herein. Of course, such a sequence may be part of a larger amino acid sequence, which may again be part of a larger proteinaceous molecule, e.g., as a subunit. As an example, in an antibody a complementarity-determining region (CDR) may be a variable region, but a combination of three CDRs with their framework regions may also be considered as a variable region. As described herein, at least two different binding sites may be built in one system, in one method. Thus, variable regions (amino acid sequences or “peptides”) are brought together under conditions in which they may pair to build two different binding sites. This requires at least three variable regions, of which one is capable of pairing with both other variable regions, thus building two specific binding sites. The two specific binding sites may be in one proteinaceous molecule or in different proteinaceous molecules, or both.

In antibodies of the IgG isotype, for example, this would be an antibody having two identical or two different binding sites. By producing the two desired binding specificities in one system, there is only one source of the products and thereby less risk of contamination with viruses, prions and the like. Such a system may be a cell-free system, such as a wheat germ system, but the described methods may be carried out inside a cell, or more cells of the same origin, or of the origin of the subjects to be treated, typically human. For production and selection purposes, other cells, such as, bacteria, insect cells, yeasts and other eukaryotes may be used.

If the pairing of the variable regions takes place in a cell, then the production of the variable regions may also take place in a cell, including the same cell. A particularly useful way of producing variable regions is through the expression of nucleic acids encoding these variable regions. In certain embodiments, all variable regions in one cell are produced by such expression, it is, however, also possible to produce a number of variable regions in this manner and have other variable regions brought in, based on different techniques of production, or the same means of production, but in another cell. For most purposes, the nature of the nucleic acid is not critical, it may be RNA or DNA, may be episomal or integrated, part of a viral vector or a plasmid, etc. However, for the final production system of the combination of proteins having different binding specificities, the nucleic acid or acids encoding the variable regions may be stably integrated into the host genome. Production of variable regions through expression of nucleic acids encoding them gives the possibility to manipulate the encoding sequences, thereby enabling the designing of new binding specificities, better pairing properties, exchanging useful sequences from one encoding sequence to another and the like. It also gives the possibility for selection for improved or different binding and/or pairing properties after alterations have been made, giving rise to the creation of libraries of many different nucleic acids in systems with easy selection mechanisms.

In this manner, the number of variable regions to be expressed for obtaining different binding sites may be reduced. One may design and/or select for a so-called “promiscuous” variable region, which is capable of pairing with more than one different binding region. “Pairing” is defined herein as any kind of coming together to build a binding site, be it through covalent or noncovalent bonding, conformational arrangement, folding, dimerization, multimerization or any other way. It thus encompasses terms such as associating, assembling, binding, combining and the like, be it directly or indirectly. Particularly when more than two different binding specificities are made in one cell, it is useful to have promiscuous variable regions in such a system, reducing the number of different nucleic acids that have to be expressed. In such a system, the promiscuous variable region should not contribute significantly to the binding specificity of the paired regions. In embodiments, the promiscuous variable region it is mostly involved in folding and stability of the binding site, thereby, of course, indirectly influencing the binding specificity.

Apart from reducing the number of nucleic acids to be expressed, by choosing one or more promiscuous variable regions, the number of paired variable regions which are not functional can be reduced to essentially zero.

Particularly in the field of immunoglobulins, which typically comprise two pairs of two different paired variable regions, the production of more than one immunoglobulin inside the same cell often leads to pairing of variable regions that does not lead to a desired binding specificity. As described herein, pairs may be designed such that in one system essentially all variable regions can pair with another in the system to form a useful specific binding site. In methods of the prior art wherein four variable regions were expressed in hybrid-hybridomas or quadromas, the result was a low percentage of desired bispecific antibodies, a percentage of either original antibodies and a substantial percentage of paired regions without significant useful binding specificity. Bispecific antibodies may be produced with the described methods, either together with or without the concomitant production of the original antibodies, but typically essentially without production of non-functional pairs. In addition, mixtures of multiple monoclonal and multiple bispecific antibodies may be produced with the methods.

The methods as disclosed in the detailed description provide for adaptation of the nucleic acids encoding variable regions to the desired end result. Using promiscuous pairing or the opposite, monogamous pairing, the end result can be designed. Where bispecific antibodies or other certain pairings are to be excluded, the use of pairs of variable regions that can pair only with each other is used. Further, methods as disclosed in the detailed description provide for adaptation of the nucleic acids encoding the constant regions to lead to a preferential pairing of the binding sites formed by the variable regions when attached to the constant regions.

Antibodies are intended to refer to all variations of immunoglobulins that retain specific binding, such as Fabs, Fab′2, scFvs, but typical for antibodies described herein is the presence of a pair of amino acid sequences (at least two CDRs) that are paired to form a binding site. Thus, the also provided is a method wherein the variable regions are derived from heavy chains and/or light chains of immunoglobulins, engineered versions of variable regions with elements of heavy and/or light chains of immunoglobulins and/or a method wherein the proteinaceous molecules are antibodies, fragments and/or derivatives of antibodies.

The methods provided are typically for the production of multiple (i.e., three or more) binding specificities in one system. Because of the specific design of the contributing variable regions this has now become technically and commercially feasible.

Production may be controlled by placing the expression of different variable regions under control of different elements such as promoters, (trans) activators, enhancers, terminators, anti-repressors, repressors, and the like. These control elements may be inducible or repressible. Thus, the production of variable regions can be regulated, thus optimizing pairing conditions as desired. Different combinations of variable regions can be made by separation in time of expression of various variable regions and/or ratios between different paired variable regions may be manipulated by regulating expression levels. Variations are described in the detailed description. Also provided is an expression system comprising nucleic acids encoding variable regions together with all elements required for gene expression and pairing, such an expression system may comprises at least one recombinant cell, such as a bacterium, a yeast cell, a fungal cell, an insect cell, a plant cell or another eukaryotic cell, in particular, a mammalian cell, more in particular, a human cell or a mouse cell.

Such a system can be provided with all necessary and useful control elements as disclosed herein before and as well known in the art. Selection elements and suicide elements may also be introduced into such a system as desired.

A collection of expression systems comprising a variety of combinations of different specificities is also provided, typically as a library for use in selecting desired combinations of variable regions.

Also disclosed are methods and means for producing molecules comprising variable regions that are specific for their targets, but are less immunogenic. Described herein, the reduction of immunogenicity is at least partially achieved by providing a nucleic acid molecule encoding at least an immunoglobulin light chain or heavy chain, wherein the heavy- or light chain encoding sequence is provided with a means that renders it resistant to DNA rearrangements and/or somatic hypermutations. In certain embodiments, the nucleic acid molecule can be provided cells that are used to generate a transgenic non-human mammal. In other embodiments, the nucleic acid molecule can be provided to other cells from such a transgenic non-human animal. The non-human mammal may be, e.g., a rodent, or, more specifically, may be a mouse. In certain embodiments, the nucleic acid encodes a human, human-like, or humanized immunoglobulin chain.

In the remainder of this specification, mice are typically used as examples of non-human mammals. The transgenic, non-human, mammalian hosts are capable of mounting an immune response to an antigen, where the response produces antibodies having primate, particularly human, variable regions. Various transgenic hosts may be employed, particularly murine, lagomorpha, ovine, avine, porcine, equine, canine, feline, or the like. Mice have been used for the production of B-lymphocytes for immortalization for the production of antibodies. Since mice are easy to handle, can be bred in large numbers, and are known to have an extensive immune repertoire, mice will usually be the animal of choice. Therefore, in the following discussion, the discussion will refer to mice, but it should be understood that other animals, particularly non-primate mammals, may be readily substituted for the mice, following the same procedures.

A reason for preventing rearrangements and hypermutation is that in this manner, a non-immunogenic polypeptide can be chosen beforehand knowing that this polypeptide chain will remain non-immunogenic. At least one of the chains of the resulting immunoglobulin is thus less immunogenic. The resulting antibody needs to have (usually) both a light- and a heavy chain. The non-immunogenic chain must therefore be capable of pairing with the other chain. The other chain may be an endogenous chain, an exogenous chain or a hybrid of both. For human therapy, the non-immunogenic chain should be as close to human as possible.

A means for rendering a gene encoding an immunoglobulin chain (or chains) resistant to DNA rearrangement and/or mutation is removal of all genetic elements responsible for the rearrangement and/or mutation. The drawback thereof is that the variability of the two chains is eliminated, whereas the transgenic non-human mammal may retain the variability in one chain (for example the heavy chain) and inhibits and/or prevents the rearrangement-mutation of the other chain (for example the light chain).

The elements for rearrangement and/or hypermutation characterized so far are located within the loci for immunoglobulins. Therefore, the means for rendering the immunoglobulin encoding sequence resistant to DNA rearrangement and/or mutation is inserting the gene in a locus outside the immunoglobulin loci.

Thus, as described herein, a transgenic non-human mammal is provided wherein the light/heavy chain encoding sequences are integrated in the genome of the non-human mammal in a locus outside the immunoglobulin loci. In certain embodiments, the insertion is in a locus that is resistant to gene silencing. As described herein, the integration may be in the Rosa-locus or a comparable locus.

In certain embodiments, provided is an expression cassette that can be inserted into a Rosa locus of the non-human animal or comparable locus with a means that allows expression of the immunoglobulin chain(s) essentially limited to cells of B cell lineage, for example with a means that allows expression of the light chain encoding nucleic acid during a certain stage of the development of B cells. The term “essentially limited expression” indicates that expression is predominantly in cells of the B-cell lineage, but that lower levels of expression in other cells, as compared to the level of expression in B-cells, is possible. In certain embodiments, the term “essentially limited expression” indicates that the expression is exclusively present in cells of the B-cell lineage. Such means typically include B cell (developmental stage) specific promoters such as CD19, CD20, μHC (all V-genes), VpreB1, VpreB2, VpreB3, λ5, Igα, Igβ, κLC (all genes), λLC (all genes), BSAP (Pax5). Although it is very well possible to direct the expression of the DNA rearrangement and/or mutation resistant chain by such promoters, they are relatively weak. A strong promoter will typically be required to ensure adequate surface expression of the B cell receptor (made up of the membrane attached Ig H and L chain) and to compete with the expression and pairing of endogenous chains (if present) through allelic exclusion. Such a promoter, however is usually not tissue specific. To confer tissue specificity, an indirect system employing Cre/lox or the like may be sued. The desired chain is put under control of a strong promoter inhibited by an element that can be removed by the action of a Cre-protein, leading to activation of the desired immunoglobulin encoding gene. This system is described in detail in F. T. Wunderlich (2004), “Generation of inducible Cre systems for conditional gene inactivation in mice,” Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln; on the internet at deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=97557230x&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=97557230x.pdf.

In certain embodiments, the immunoglobulin chain produced in a manner resistant to rearrangements and hypermutation is a light chain capable of pairing with different heavy chains encoded by the non-human mammal. The light chain will then be the same (and less immunogenic) in all antibodies, but variety in specificity is retained through rearrangements and hypermutations in the heavy chains. It may in that case be desirable to silence at least one of the endogenous loci encoding a light chain, although allelic exclusion may render this unnecessary.

According to this embodiment, the endogenous kappa (κ) light chain locus may be functionally silenced.

If the endogenous κ light chain locus is silenced, but also for other reasons, it is desireable that the resistant light chain is a κ light chain, desirably a light chain that has a germline-like sequence. As described herein, such a light chain would lead to an antibody with reduced immunogenicity. One example of a germline sequence is based on the human IGKV1-39 (O12) as this light chain is very frequently observed in the human repertoire (de Wildt et al. 1999, J. Mol. Biol. 285(3):895) and has superior thermodynamic stability, yield and solubility (Ewert et al. 2003, J. Mol. Biol. 325(3):531).

The following description gives more specific embodiments of the expression cassette with which the non-human animal can be provided described herein. Although this is typically advantageous for immunoglobulins, other genes of interest are also contemplated.

Thus, provided in a specific embodiment is a transgenic non-human mammal wherein the light chain encoding nucleic acid comprises in 5′-3′ direction: a B cell specific promoter, a leader, a rearranged human V gene, optionally a MoEκi enhancer, a constant region (κ) and optionally a (truncated) MoEκ3′ enhancer. Neuberger identified and examined a novel B-cell specific enhancer located downstream of the kappa constant region (EPO patent application EP004690251, the contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference). This enhancer has been shown to play a crucial role in the expression of kappa genes as removal of the 808 bp enhancer strongly reduced expression. Deletion of the 3′ kappa enhancer also strongly reduced the level of somatic hypermutations (SHM). In transgenic and cell expression studies it has been revealed that reduced, mutated or deleted 3′ kappa enhancers not only lowered expression levels but also decreased the level of somatic hypermutations. Currently, it cannot be determined whether the 3′ kappa enhancer is involved in SHM processes, expression regulation or both (review V. H. Odegard et al. (2006), Nat. Rev. Immunol. 6:573; M. Inlay et al. (2002), Nat. Immunol. 3:463).

Detailed expression studies using engineered variants of the 3′ kappa enhancer indicated that a 50 nucleotide region is sufficient to drive expression. However for proper expression a reduced sequence of 145 nucleotides may be used (EP04690251; K. B. Meyer et al. (1990), Nucleic Acids Res. 18(19):5609-15).

Thus, in one aspect is provided a nucleic acid for insertion into the genome of a non human animal that is an expression cassette for the expression of a desired proteinaceous molecule in cells developing into mature B cells during a certain stage of development, the cassette comprising means for preventing silencing of expression of the desired proteinaceous molecule after introduction into a host cell, and means for timing expression of the desired proteinaceous molecule with the desired developmental stage of the host cell.

An expression cassette is defined as a nucleic acid molecule that has been provided with all elements necessary for expression of the gene in a host cell, although in certain embodiments some of such elements may be present on a second nucleic acid to be introduced, whereby these elements act in trans. Elements necessary for expression in a host cell include promoters, enhancers and other regulatory elements. Only those elements are necessary that are not provided by the host cell. Further, an expression cassette may comprise means for introduction into the genome of a host cell, such as sequences that allow for homologous recombination with a certain site in the genome. Usually, the nucleic acid molecule will be DNA, typically double stranded. Typically, the expression cassette will be provided to the cell in a vector from which it is transferred to the genome of the cell.

The expression of a gene of interest should not be silenced in the genome of the host cell, especially not in the development stage where expression is required. This can be done by various means, such as insertion into the endogenous locus or by providing the cassette with nucleic acid elements that prevent silencing (Kwaks et al. (2006), Trends Biotechnol. 24(3):137-142, which is incorporated herein by reference). In certain embodiments, the expression cassette is inserted in a locus that is not silenced in the host cells (EP 01439234; which is incorporated herein by reference).

Means for preventing silencing comprise STabilizing Anti-Repression-sequences (STAR®-sequences) and Matrix Attachment Regions (MARs). A STAR sequence is a nucleic acid molecular sequence that has a capacity to influence transcription of genes in cis. Typically, although not necessarily, a STAR sequence does not code by itself for a functional protein element. In one embodiment, one STAR element is used. In certain embodiments, however, more than one STAR element is used. In a particular embodiment, an expression cassette described herein is provided with two STAR sequences; one STAR sequence at the 5′ side of the coding sequence of the immunoglobulin gene and one STAR sequence at the 3′ side of the coding sequence of the immunoglobulin gene. MARs are DNA sequences that are involved in anchoring DNA/chromatin to the nuclear matrix and they have been described in both mammalian and plant species. MARs possess a number of features that facilitate the opening and maintenance of euchromatin. MARs can increase transgene expression and limit position-effects.

In certain embodiments, expression from the cassette may only occur during a certain period in the development of a cell, in particular a developing B cell, more in particular a B cell in a transgenic non-human animal, in particular a mouse. The developmental period may be chosen such that the expression of the gene from the cassette (typically a light- or heavy chain-like polypeptide) does not significantly interfere with the normal differentiation and/or maturation of the cell and when applicable, allows for pairing of the polypeptide chain produced with its counterpart.

This may, in one embodiment, be achieved by providing a nucleic acid molecule described herein, wherein the means for timing expression is a promoter of which the activity is essentially limited to the certain stage of development. In a developing B cell, which, e.g., after immunization is maturing and/or differentiating, the expression of the gene of interest, when it is one of the polypeptide chains of an immunoglobulin, must not interfere (significantly) with the maturation and/or differentiation and it needs to be timed such that the resulting polypeptide can pair with its counterparts. Therefore, provided is a nucleic acid molecule as described herein wherein the certain stage starts at a stage immediately preceding or coinciding with the onset of the expression of light chain molecules by the cells at a certain stage of development into a mature B cell. This may be achieved by selecting a promoter that is active only during the suitable period. Such a promoter may be a CD19 promoter, the Ig-α promoter, the Ig-β promoter, the μhc (all genes) promoter, the Vk promoter or analogues or homologues thereof.

In a specific embodiment, the promoter as disclosed herein does not drive the expression of the gene of interest directly. Instead, it drives the expression of a gene of which the product activates in trans the expression of the gene of interest. Such an activating gene may be a gene encoding a so-called Cre recombinase or Cre-like protein. The expression cassette for the gene of interest may, e.g., be provided with a sequence that inhibits expression of the gene of interest. The sequence can be removed by the action of the Cre recombinase, which is under control of the desired promoter (active during the proper stage of development). In this embodiment a set of expression cassettes is required.

Therefore, provided is a set of nucleic acid molecules that are expression cassettes, wherein one nucleic acid molecule comprises an expression cassette encoding a Cre-like protein under control of a promoter active during the desired stage of development of the host cell and the second nucleic acid comprises a sequence encoding a desired proteinaceous molecule under control of a constitutive promoter which can be activated by the action of a Cre-like protein. The activation may be achieved by removal of a stop sequence flanked by loxP sites. The Cre/lox system is described in detail in Rajewsky et al. (1996), J. Clin. Invest. 98:600-603, which is incorporated herein by reference. Such systems are reviewed in F. T. Wunderlich (2004), “Generation of inducible Cre systems for conditional gene inactivation in mice,” Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln; on the World Wide Web at deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=97557230x&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=97557230x.pd, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Further provided is a transgenic non-human animal that has been provided with an expression cassette hereof, wherein the desired proteinaceous molecule is a polypeptide chain of an immunoglobulin. One example of a polypeptide chain is a light chain. A more specific example of a polypeptide is a germline or germline-like light chain. An even more specific polypeptide is O12. In certain embodiments, the rearranged germline kappa light chain IGKV1-39*01/IGKJ1*01 (nomenclature according to the IMGT database, at [worldwideweb].imgt.org).

In certain embodiments, the polypeptide chain is rendered essentially incapable of rearrangement and/or of excluded of any sequence modification such as normally operating on Ig during the process of B cell affinity maturation. Therefore, provided is a transgenic non-human animal that has been provided with an expression cassette described herein, wherein the rearrangement and/or sequence modifications are prevented by the absence of elements at least partially responsible for somatic hypermutation such as, for example, the MoEκi enhancer.

One example of an expression cassette described herein comprises means for prevention of silencing. In one embodiment, the means for prevention of silencing are means for insertion into a locus in the genome of the host cell that is resistant to silencing. The means for insertion may be means for homologous recombination into the site resistant to silencing. An example locus when the non-human animal is a mouse is the rosa-locus.

A further example of an expression cassette described herein comprises in 5′-3′ direction: a Vκ promoter, a mouse leader, a human V gene, optionally a MoEκi enhancer, a rat constant region (Cκ) and optionally a (truncated) MoEκ3′ enhancer.

Yet a further example of an expression cassette described herein comprises in 5′-3′ direction: a Vκ promoter, a human leader, a human V gene, optionally a MoEκi enhancer, a rat constant region (Cκ) and optionally a (truncated) MoEκ3′ enhancer.

Certain antibodies produced as described herein may be be used in human therapeutics and diagnostics. Thus, provided is a method for producing a desired antibody comprising exposing a non-human mammal described herein to an antigen such that an antibody response is induced and isolating the antibodies specific for the antigen.

In certain embodiments, provided are methods for producing a desired antibody, the method comprising exposing a non-human mammal described herein to an antigen such that an antibody response is induced and isolating cells producing such antibodies, culturing and optionally immortalizing the cells and harvesting the antibodies.

In certain embodiments, provided is a method for producing a desired antibody comprising exposing a non-human mammal described herein to an antigen such that an antibody response is induced and isolating a nucleic acid encoding at least part of such an antibody, inserting the nucleic acid or a copy or a derivative thereof in an expression cassette and expressing the antibody in a host cell.

The methods for producing antibodies from transgenic mice are known to a person skilled in the art. Examples are methods for production of mixtures of antibodies from one cell, whereby the nucleic acids encoding these antibodies have been derived from mice described herein.

These so-called OLIGOCLONICS® are disclosed in WO 04106375 and WO 05068622, which are incorporated herein by reference.

Described herein are transgenic non-human mammals, such as mice, capable of generating specific and high affinity hybrid mouse-human antibodies with, for example, human immunoglobulin light chain variable (VL) regions in or near germline configuration and, for example, murine immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (VH) regions that may have accumulated somatic mutations during the process of antigen-driven affinity maturation. It is envisaged that the murine VH regions of the hybrid antibodies may be subjected to humanization procedures to yield mAbs that have reduced immunogenicity when applied in humans based on germline or near-germline VL regions and murine VH regions that have been humanized.

In particular, shown is that transgenic mice that harbor a DNA expression construct that encodes a rearranged human VL region under the control of cis-acting genetic elements that provide timely and regulated expression of the transgene on a significant proportion of B cells during B cell development, yet lack elements that direct the somatic hypermutation machinery to the transgene, are capable of generating specific and high affinity mouse-human hybrid antibodies with essentially unmutated L chains. It is shown that the rearranged human transgene is capable of pairing with a diversity of endogenous murine immunoglobulin H chains to form mouse-human hybrid immunoglobulins expressed on the surface of B cells and to sufficiently facilitate murine B cell development to obtain a sizeable and diverse peripheral B cell compartment.

In certain embodiments, the transgene expression construct harbors the coding sequences of a human rearranged L chain V region under the control of a human VL promoter to direct B-cell specific expression. In addition, the construct harbors the murine 3′ Ck enhancer sequence for B cell specific and inducible and high level expression of the transgene. Furthermore, the construct is designed to lack regulatory elements that facilitate the recruitment of the somatic hypermutation machinery to the transgene, such as the intron enhancer and the 3′ C-kappa enhancer.

In a related embodiment, the rearranged human VL gene is inserted in the murine Rosa26 locus by site-specific integration. The Rosa26 locus is useful in the context of the “targeted transgenesis” approach for efficient generation of transgenic organisms (such as mice) with a predictable transgene expression pattern.

In certain embodiments, the rearranged human VL region is selected for its capacity to pair with many different murine VH genes so as to ensure the generation of a population of B cells with a diverse VH gene repertoire. A method of obtaining such VL regions comprises amplifying a repertoire of rearranged VH genes from the B cells of mice and a repertoire of human rearranged germline VL regions from the B cells of humans and cloning them into phagemid display vectors to prepare diverse libraries of hybrid immunoglobulins in bacteria. By nucleotide sequence analysis of collections of unselected and antigen-selected VH/VL pairs, human germline VL genes that pair with many different murine VH genes are identified. A collection of human germline VL genes with this capacity is described.

In one embodiment, it is shown that upon immunization with antigen, the B cells are capable of mounting an immune response, leading to the generation of B cells that secrete hybrid antibodies with high specificity and affinity. The V regions encoding these antibodies are characterized by the human transgenic light chain that harbors no or very few mutations and a murine heavy chain that harbors a variable number of mutations introduced by the somatic hypermutation machinery.

In a related embodiment, strategies to obtain high affinity hybrid monoclonal antibodies from the transgenic mice by hybridoma and display technologies are contemplated as well as procedures to humanize the murine VH regions to obtain less immunogenic antibodies for application in humans.

In one embodiment, provided is an immunoglobulin L chain transgene construct comprising DNA sequences that encode a human immunoglobulin VL region in combination with a light chain constant region (CL) of an animal immunoglobulin protein, which sequences are operably linked to transcription regulatory sequences that, when integrated in a non-human transgenic animal, produce an Ig VL-CL polypeptide with a human VL region that is not or marginally subject to somatic hypermutation. The Ig VL is capable of pairing with rearranged VH-CH polypeptides that are generated during B cell development in the non-human transgenic animal, with the VH-CH polypeptides retaining the capacity to undergo somatic hypermutation upon stimulation. The CL region may be of any animal species and is generally capable of pairing with the CH regions of the non-human transgenic animal.

Also included is the use of a transgene construct as above in producing a transgenic non-human animal capable of the production of hybrid antibodies consisting of VL-CL polypeptides and VH-CH polypeptides in which the VL region is of human origin and the CL, VH and CH may be of any animal species, including human. Upon immunization, these transgenic animals are capable of generating high affinity antibodies encoded by somatically hypermutated VH genes and essentially non-mutated VL genes encoded by the transgene.

In another aspect, provided is a process for the production of a transgenic non-human animal capable of the production of hybrid antibodies in response to antigenic challenge, comprising functionally disrupting the endogenous immunoglobulin light chain locus and inserting into the animal genome a transgene construct described herein.

Included is the use of animals obtainable by this process in the production of B cells that produce immunoglobulin having human VL light chain. In another aspect there is provided a process for the production of B cells that produce immunoglobulin having human VL and binding to a selected antigen, comprising challenging an animal obtainable by a process as above with the antigen and screening for B cells from the animal that bind the antigen. Further included are B cells obtainable by this process and hybridomas obtainable by immortalizing such B cells, e.g., hybridomas obtained by fusing B cells as above with myeloma cells. Also included is a process for producing monoclonal antibody comprising cultivating such a hybridoma. In yet a further aspect, provided is the use of the above B cells in producing a hybridoma or corresponding monoclonal antibody.

Described herein is a process for the producing immunoglobulin(s) having human VL chain and binding to a selected antigen, the process comprising challenging an animal obtainable as aforementioned with the antigen and obtaining immunoglobulin therefrom.

In one strategy, as an individual step, a rearranged VL region encoded by human germline V and J gene segments and a light chain constant region of any animal species. For example, a murine constant region is introduced into the mouse germ line. The transgene DNA may be introduced into the pronuclei of fertilized oocytes or embryonic stem cells. The integration may be random or homologous depending on the particular strategy to be employed. For example, the VL transgene may be introduced by random insertion, resulting in mice that bear one or multiple copies of the transgene in the genome. Alternatively, the human VL transgene may be targeted to a specific genomic locus using site-specific recombination as described in the art.

In certain embodiments, the VL transgene is targeted to the murine ROSA26 locus which is a suitable integration site allowing strong and predictable expression of inserted transgenes (European Patent Office document EP 1,439,234 A1, the contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference). The targeting vector allows insertion of a single copy of a gene expression cassette, thus avoiding modulation of transgene expression by the arrangement of multiple copies. By choosing the autosomal Rosa26 locus as insertion site, the expression pattern of the inserted transgene in the non-human animal is predictable. Furthermore, random X inactivation and/or modulation by chromosomal position effects are avoided. This also eliminates the need to generate and analyze multiple transgenic strains for any given transgene. Finally, the Rosa26 targeting vector for the site-specific integration can be used for multiple gene expression cassettes. Thus, it may be envisaged that two or more different rearranged germline human VL regions are inserted into the Rosa26 locus to further increase the diversity of the repertoire of hybrid or human antibodies.

In another embodiment, a rearranged human VL region may be targeted to the murine Ig kappa or lambda light chain locus so as to functionally inactivate the endogenous locus or mice containing the rearranged human VL region may be bred with mice that lack functional kappa or lambda Ig loci or both. Thus, by using transformation, using repetitive steps or in combination with breeding, transgenic animals may be obtained which are able to produce antibodies harboring the human VL transgene in the substantial absence of endogenous host immunoglobulin light chains.

In one embodiment, a human VL transgene is selected for its capacity to pair with a substantial portion of murine VH regions to form a diverse repertoire of functional mouse-human hybrid antibodies expressed on the surface of B cells. By a substantial portion of murine VH regions is meant that the human VL pairs with at least with 0.1%, 1%, or 10% of the murine VH regions generated during B cell development Methods to identify human VL genes with this characteristic include randomly pairing a repertoire of human VL regions with a repertoire of murine VH regions, co-expression of VH and VL regions in appropriate eukaryotic or prokaryotic expression vectors and screening for human VL regions that pair with a substantial portion of murine VH regions. In one embodiment, phagemid vectors may be used to direct expression of mouse-human antibody fragments in bacterial cells or to the surface of filamentous phage and analysis of binding capacity of antibody fragments by methods known in the art.

In another embodiment, a human VL transgene is selected for its capacity to pair with a substantial portion of human VH regions to form a diverse repertoire of human antibodies expressed on the surface of B cells. By a substantial portion of human VH regions is meant that the human VL pairs with at least with 0.1%, 1%, or 10% of the human VH regions generated during B cell development.

In the latter embodiment, the human VL transgenic mice are crossed with mice that harbor functional rearranged or non-rearranged human H chain immunoglobulin loci and functionally inactivated endogenous H chain Ig loci as described in the art. The functional inactivation of the two copies of each of the three host Ig loci (heavy chain, kappa and lambda light chain), where the host contains the human IgH and the rearranged human VL transgene would allow for the production of purely human antibody molecules without the production of host or host human chimeric antibodies. Such a host strain, by immunization with specific antigens, would respond by the production of mouse B-cells producing specific human antibodies, which B-cells are subsequently fused with mouse myeloma cells or are immortalized in any other manner for the continuous stable production of human monoclonal antibodies. Alternatively, the population of B cells is used as a source of VH regions that can be obtained by constructing cDNA libraries or by PCR amplification using primers for human VH regions as is known in the art.

A human rearranged VL gene is reconstructed in an appropriate eukaryotic or prokaryotic microorganism and the resulting DNA fragments can be introduced into pronuclei of fertilized mouse oocytes or embryonic stem cells. Various constructs that direct B cell specific expression of VL transgenes have been described in the art and have the following general format: a leader sequence and relevant upstream sequences to direct B cell specific expression of the transgene, a coding sequence of a human VL transgene, an enhancer sequence that directs B cell specific and high level expression of the transgene and a murine constant region gene. In one format, the enhancer is the C-kappa 3′ enhancer because it directs high level expression in B-lineage cells, but does not recruit somatic hypermutation when used in transgene constructs.

In one embodiment, animals, for example, mice, comprising one or multiple copies of the transgene in the genome are isolated and analyzed for stable expression. Animals are selected that show stable expression of the transgene over longer periods of time, for example in B-cells. If required, different animal lines comprising independent insertions of one or multiple copies of the transgene, for example on different chromosomes, are crossed to obtain animals with different insertions of one or multiple copies of the transgene to increase expression of the transgene in animals, for example in B-cells.

Further provided is progeny of a transgenic non-human animal described herein, the progeny comprising, at least in its B-cell lineage, a heavy- or light chain encoding sequence together with a means that renders the sequence resistant to DNA rearrangements and/or somatic hypermutations.

Further provided is progeny of a transgenic non-human animal described herein, the progeny comprising an expression cassette for the expression of a desired proteinaceous molecule in cells during a certain stage of development in cells developing into mature B cells.

In addition, provided is a cell that is isolated from a transgenic non-human animal described herein, the cell comprising a heavy- or light chain encoding sequence together with a means that renders the sequence resistant to DNA rearrangements and/or somatic hypermutations. In addition, provided is a cell that is isolated from a transgenic non-human animal described herein, the cell comprising an expression cassette for the expression of a desired proteinaceous molecule in cells during a certain stage of development in cells developing into mature B cells. A cell described herein, for example an antibody-producing B-cell or a cell that is capable of differentiating or maturating into an antibody-producing B-cell, can be used for in vitro production of antibodies, as is known to the skilled person, for example, from Gascan et al. 1991, J. Exp. Med. 173:747-750. Methods for immortalization of a cell described herein are known in the art and include the generation of hybridomas, for example, by fusion with a myeloma cell, transformation with Epstein Barr Virus; expression of the signal transducer of activation and transcription (STAT), activation via CD40 and IL4 receptor signaling, and/or expression of Bcl6 (Shvarts et al. 2002, Genes Dev. 16:681-686).

In a separate step, the endogenous Kappa and Lambda light chain loci are rendered essentially non-functional such that at least the majority of B cells in the transgenic mice bear Ig receptors that contain the transgenic human VL region. Inactivation of the endogenous mouse immunoglobulin loci is achieved by targeted disruption of the appropriate loci by homologous recombination in mouse embryonic stem cells. The targeted disruption comprises alteration of the genomic sequence such that substantially no functional endogenous mouse immunoglobulin Kappa and/or Lambda light chain is produced. The term “substantially no functional endogenous immunoglobulin” indicates that the endogenous Kappa and/or Lambda light chain loci are functionally silenced such that the level of functional protein expression of the endogenous Kappa and/or Lambda light chain loci is reduced to about 20%, about 10%, about 5%, about 2% or about 1% of the level of expression in a reference mouse. In one embodiment, the level of functional protein expression of the endogenous Kappa and/or Lambda light chain loci is reduced to 0%. The level of functional protein expression can be determined by means known to the skilled person, including western blotting and pairing with a mouse heavy chain. The reference mouse is a mouse in which the endogenous Kappa and/or Lambda light chain loci is not disrupted. The alteration comprises mutation and/or deletion of gene sequences that are required for functional expression of the endogenous immunoglobulin genes. Alternatively, the alteration comprises insertion of a nucleic acid into the endogenous mouse immunoglobulin Kappa and/or Lambda light chain loci such that the functional expression of the endogenous immunoglobulin genes is reduced. In one embodiment, the nucleic acid comprises a silencing element resulting in transcriptional silencing of the endogenous immunoglobulin gene. In a further embodiment, or in addition, the nucleic acid comprises a sequence that disrupts splicing and/or translation of the endogenous immunoglobulin gene, for example, by introducing an exon that renders a frame shift in the coding sequence, or that comprises a premature stop codon. In each case chimeric animals are generated which are derived in part from the modified embryonic stem cells and are capable of transmitting the genetic modifications through the germ line. The mating of mouse strains with human immunoglobulin loci to strains with inactivated mouse loci yields animals which produce antibodies comprising essentially only human light chains.

A construct for homologous recombination is prepared by means known in the art and any undesirable sequences are removed, e.g., procaryotic sequences. Any convenient technique for introducing a construct for homologous recombination into a target cell may be employed. These techniques include spheroplast fusion, lipofection, electroporation, calcium phosphate-mediated DNA transfer or direct microinjection. After transformation or transfection of the target cells, target cells are selected by means of positive and/or negative markers, for example, by neomycin resistance and/or acyclovir and/or gancyclovir resistance. Those cells which show the desired phenotype may then be further analyzed by restriction analysis, electrophoresis, Southern analysis, PCR, or the like. By identifying fragments which show the presence of the lesion(s) at the target locus, cells in which homologous recombination has occurred to inactivate a copy of the target locus are identified.

Furthermore, it is shown that upon immunization, the murine and human VH regions in the afore-mentioned transgenic mice but not the VL regions are capable of undergoing somatic hypermutations to generate high affinity antibodies. Advantageously, these antibodies encoded by germline VL regions are predicted to contribute to lower immunogenicity when applied in humans and result in more stable antibodies that are less prone to aggregation and thus safer for therapeutic use in humans.

MAbs derived from the afore-mentioned non-human transgenic animals or cells all share the same identical human VL regions. It has been described that mAbs that share the same identical VL region may be co-expressed in a single clonal cell for the production of mixtures of recombinant antibodies with functional binding sites (see, the incorporated WO 04106375 and WO 05068622). Thus, provided is a platform for the generation of specific and high affinity mAbs that constitute the basis for mixtures of mAbs produced by clonal cells.

In certain embodiments mAbs derived from the afore-mentioned non-human transgenic animals or cells are directed against cellular targets. Examples of targets are human surface-expressed or soluble proteins or carbohydrate molecules. Further, examples of targets are surface-expressed proteins or carbohydrate molecules that are expressed on the surface of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, especially of humans.

More specifically, example targets include cytokines and chemokines, including but not limited to InterLeukin 1beta (IL1beta), IL2, IL4, IL5, IL7, IL8, IL12, IL13, IL15, IL18, IL21, IL23 and chemokines such as, for example, CXC chemokines, CC chemokines, C chemokines (or γ chemokines) such as XCL1 (lymphotactin-α) and XCL2 (lymphotactin-ß), and CX3C chemokines. Further examples of targets are receptor molecules of the cytokines and chemokines, including type I cytokine receptors such as, for example, the IL-2 receptor, type II cytokine receptors such as, for example, interferon receptors, immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily receptors, tumor necrosis factor receptor family including receptors for CD40, CD27 and CD30, serine/threonine-protein kinase receptors such as TGF beta receptors, G-protein coupled receptors such as CXCR1-CXCR7, and tyrosine kinase receptors such as fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) family members, EGF receptor family members including erbB1 (EGF-R; HER1), erbB2, (HER2), erbB3 (HER3), and erbB4 (HER4), insulin receptor family members including IGF-R1 and IGF-RII, PDGF receptor family members, Hepatocyte growth factor receptor family members including c-Met (HGF-R), Trk receptor family members, AXL receptor family members, LTK receptor family members, TIE receptor family members, ROR receptor family members, DDR receptor family members, KLG receptor family members, RYK receptor family members, MuSK receptor family members, and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) family members.

Further example targets are targets that are over-expressed or selectively expressed in tumors such as, for example, VEGF, CD20, CD38, CD33, CEA, EpCAM, PSMA, CD54, Lewis Y, CD52, CD40, CD22, CD51/CD61, CD74, MUC-1, CD38, CD19, CD262 (TRAIL-R2), RANKL, CTLA4, and CD30; targets that are involved in chronic inflammation such as, for example, CD25, CD11a, TNF, CD4, CD80, CD23, CD3, CD14, IFNgamma, CD40L, CD50, CD122, TGFbeta and TGFalpha.

Surface-expressed proteins or carbohydrate molecules that are expressed on the surface of bacteria, viruses, and other parasitic pathogens, especially of humans, include surface markers of influenza A and B viruses such as hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), filoviruses such as Ebola virus, rabies, measles, rubella, mumps, flaviviruses such as Dengue virus types 1-4, tick-borne encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and Yellow fever virus, Paramyxoviruses including Paramyxovirus such as Parainfluenza 1, 3, Rubulavirus such as Mumpsvirus and Parainfluenza 2, 4, Morbillivirus, and Pneumovirus such as Respiratory syncytial virus, Vaccinia, small pox, coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, hepatitis virus A, B and C, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, herpes viruses, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr virus, herpes simplex virus, and Varicella zoster virus, parvoviruses such as, for example, B19; Legionella pneumophila; Listeria monocytogenes; Campylobacter jejuni; Staphylococcus aureus; E. coli O157:H7; Borrelia burgdorferi; Helicobacter pylori; Ehrlichia chaffeensis; Clostridium difficile; Vibrio cholera; Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium; Bartonella henselae; Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Strep); Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Strep); Multiple drug resistant S. aureus (e.g., MRSA); Chlamydia pneumoniae; Clostridium botulinum; Vibrio vulnificus; Parachlamydia pneumonia; Corynebacterium amycolatum; Klebsiella pneumonia; Linezolid-resistant enterococci (E. faecalis and E. faecium); and Multiple drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

Additional examples of targets are IL-6 and its receptor, IL-6Ralpha, glycoprotein-denominated gp130, RSV, especially the surface proteins F, G and SH and non-structural proteins such as N and M, and receptor tyrosine kinases, in particular erbB1 (EGF-R; HER1), erbB2, (HER2), erbB3 (HER3), erbB4 (HER4), IGF-R1 and IGF-RII, c-Met (HGF-R).

Therefore, provided is a platform for the generation of specific and high affinity mAbs against the above mentioned targets that constitute the basis for mixtures of mAbs produced by clonal cells. In certain embodiments, the specific and high affinity mAbs comprise mAbs that are directed against different epitopes on at least one of the targets. In a further embodiment, the specific and high affinity mAbs comprise mAbs that are directed against different targets, such as, for example, one or more members of the EGF-receptor family, including erbB1 (EGF-R; HER1), erbB2, (HER2), erbB3 (HER3) and erbB4 (HER4).

Unless otherwise defined, scientific and technical terms used in connection with this disclosure shall have the meanings that are commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. Further, unless otherwise required by context, singular terms shall include pluralities and plural terms shall include the singular. Generally, nomenclatures utilized in connection with, and techniques of, cell and tissue culture, molecular biology, and protein and oligo- or polynucleotide chemistry and hybridization described herein are those well known and commonly used in the art. Standard techniques are used for recombinant DNA, oligonucleotide synthesis, and tissue culture and transformation (e.g., electroporation, lipofection). Enzymatic reactions and purification techniques are performed according to manufacturer's specifications or as commonly accomplished in the art or as described herein. The foregoing techniques and procedures are generally performed according to conventional methods well known in the art and as described in various general and more specific references that are cited and discussed throughout the present specification. See, e.g., Sambrook et al. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (3rd edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (2001)), which is incorporated herein by reference. The nomenclatures utilized in connection with, and the laboratory procedures and techniques of, analytical chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry, and medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry described herein are those well known and commonly used in the art. Standard techniques are used for chemical syntheses, chemical analyses, pharmaceutical preparation, formulation, and delivery, and treatment of patients.

Selection methods are also described herein. In one embodiment, provided is a method for selecting combinations of proteinaceous molecules having specific affinity for at least two target epitopes, the method comprising contacting a collection with the two target epitopes and selecting combinations showing the specific affinity.

Such methods are particularly useful when the two target epitopes are associated with one disease or disorder. In certain embodiments, it is possible to combine such a method with subjecting a selected combination of proteinaceous molecules to a biological assay indicative of an effect of the combination on the disease and/or disorder.

Compositions obtainable by the methods described herein are also included. Examples are compositions comprising at least three different paired variable regions, having different binding specificities, in particular, those wherein the variable regions are derived from immunoglobulin light chains and/or immunoglobulin heavy chains. A combination composition that targets both TNF-α as well as IL-1β is an exemplary combination. In such typical therapeutic uses, it is important that the combination preparations do not lead to severe immune responses in the subject to be treated. At least some of the antigenic parts of the binding molecules, such as the constant regions in antibodies should be of human origin. In the alternative, antigenic parts may be omitted or masked by molecules such as PEG. Thus, also provided in one embodiment is a composition, which is a pharmaceutical composition. Although antibodies have found use in other areas, and antibody combinations as described herein can be used in other areas, such as the pharmaceutical use of the combinations, both diagnostic and therapeutic. However, in industrial applications the combinations may also be superior to existing separation techniques, because of ease of production, consistency of production and the availability of many combinations of specificities, capable of separating almost anything from any mixture. In testing, be it in pharmaceutical diagnostics or in any other field (environmental, agricultural, to name a few) the combinations can be used advantageously as well. Both partners of a sandwich assay can be made in one cell. Agglutination mixtures can be made in one cell. When using the IgG format, the expression in the same cell will lead to a substantial fraction of bispecific compounds, which offer unique applications in combination with the monoclonals present in the same mix. For example, when a monoclonal antibody can only bind with one arm to an antigen, a bispecific molecule with binding sites capable of binding to two different epitopes on the same antigen, may more consistently than the monoclonal antibody mixture immobilize or trap antigen. Again, ease and consistency of production, as well as the diversity of specificities is an asset of the combinations. These advantages of course also apply in selecting and producing combinations of specificities for therapeutic and/or prophylactic use, with additional advantages in ease of selection, efficacy of selected combinations and the mentioned safety aspects.

A simple combination starts with two specificities present in the combination. When a promiscuous variable region is present, such a combination requires only three different variable regions. The combination can be made such that all resulting paired variable regions in one proteinaceous molecule have the same specificity, giving monospecific molecules, or the variable or, if appropriate, the constant regions can be designed such that bispecific molecules are also present. It can also be designed such that one monospecific and one bispecific molecule are present, but that the other possible monospecific molecule does not arise, because the variable regions cannot assemble in that manner. Thus, one embodiment comprises a composition comprising at least one monospecific antibody and at least one bispecific antibody produced in one cell for use as a pharmaceutical. In some applications, bispecific molecules, especially antibodies, may be advantageous for bringing two antigens together on a cell surface. Such aggregation events are often required in biology for transduction of a signal to the inside of a cell. Bispecific antibodies in the mixture may also be used to connect effector molecules with target cells. The uses envisaged for bispecific antibodies in the prior art are also envisaged for bispecific molecules. The most advantageous compositions comprise more than two different monospecific binding molecules, optionally together with the different possible combinations of bispecific or multispecific molecules that may result from the different possible pairing events. These multispecific mixtures resemble polyclonal mixtures in their efficacy for recognizing antigens, but without the drawbacks of many irrelevant specificities in the mixture. The mixtures resemble monoclonal antibodies in their defined constitution, ease of production and high specificities, but without the concomitant loss of efficacy. The mixtures are referred to as OLIGOCLONICS®. OLIGOCLONICS® can thus contain two, three, or more different binding specificities, and can exist in various formats. In the simplest form, OLIGOCLONICS® in the IgG format contain a mixture of different monospecific antibodies and bispecific antibodies in a particular given ratio. In the Fab format, OLIGOCLONICS® contain a mixture of different Fab molecules which are the product of correctly paired variable regions. In the mixed format, OLIGOCLONICS® contain a mixture of antibodies and antibody fragments.

As disclosed herein, the methods and means in one embodiment are the production of combinations of specificities. Before production of combinations, suitable combinations must be designed and/or selected. These methods for designing and selection are also part of the present disclosure. Thus, in a further embodiment, provided is a method for producing nucleic acids encoding variable regions for use in a method for production of combinations of specificities comprising synthesizing nucleic acids encoding variable regions, expressing the nucleic acids and allowing the expression products to pair and selecting nucleic acids encoding variable regions having desired pairing behavior.

In an alternative embodiment, provided is a method for producing nucleic acids encoding variable regions for use in a method for production of combinations of specificities comprising altering existing nucleic acids encoding variable regions, expressing the nucleic acids and allowing the expression products to pair and selecting nucleic acids encoding variable regions having desired pairing behavior. Of course, both methods may be combined and/or repeated in any order. Synthesis, alteration and selection methods are disclosed in more detail in the detailed description.

Nucleic acid molecules for use in producing combinations of specificities may be those encoding immunoglobulin polypeptides. Of course, all types of immunoglobulins, especially antibodies (IgM, IgE, IgGs, etc.), but also fragments (scFv, Fab, single-domain, engineered variants) can be used. Variable regions can, for example, be derived from either immunoglobulin heavy chain variable regions, or immunoglobulin light chain variable regions, but can also be engineered hybrids of heavy and light chain variable regions (with, for example, swapped CDR regions or FR regions). Variable regions can, for example, be obtained from hybridomas, by cloning from immune or non-immune donors or can be synthetically constructed variable regions. Even hybrids can be produced using nucleic acids and methods described herein. For example, hybrids with different yet functional binding sites can be made by providing elements from different isotypes, for example, IgM and IgG, or IgM and IgA. It should be born in mind that T cell receptors resemble antibodies in many respects. Thus, the methods can also be applied advantageously with T cell receptors, their variable regions and their encoding nucleic acids. The methods may be carried out using immunoglobulins having different chains (T cell receptors), especially antibodies having light chains and/or heavy chains or parts/derivatives thereof. Of course part and/or derivatives are such parts and/or derivatives that do have specific binding properties comparable to immunoglobulins.

This means that variable regions should at least comprise an element which resembles a complementarity-determining region of an antibody (CDR). In certain embodiments, the variable regions have more than a CDR, and/or a variable region resembles in size and physicochemical properties a VH or VL of an antibody. The detailed description describes using antibodies as an exemplary embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Examples of composition of three or six proteinaceous molecules with three different binding specificities. The use of antibodies with appropriate pairing between the variable regions yields mixtures of antibodies that are bispecific or monospecific and bivalent (top panel). By appropriate engineering to manipulate the pairing between the variable regions, mixtures of only bispecifics or bivalent molecules arise (left hand side panels). In the legend on the right panel (grey box) it is indicated that the three symbols, the circle, triangle and square, represent binding sites consisting each of variable regions.

FIG. 2: Method to identify antibodies with pairing-compatible elements by empirical analysis of antibody variable region combinations.

FIG. 3: Antibodies with similar light or heavy chain by selection from libraries with restricted diversity. In this example of a Fab library, one of the antibody chains is identical in all library members (the white chain), while the others contain amino acid diversity.

FIG. 4: Different approaches to select antibodies with appropriate pairing behavior. (a) selection of Fab library with constant light chain, and equivalent for Fab library with diversity in light chain only in (d); (b) selection of antigen-binding single-domain antibody from heavy chain only library, and equivalent for VL in (e); (c) selection of library of chimeric chains of VH and VL (in which, for example, some CDR elements are swapped).

FIG. 5: Selecting antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions by re-shuffling one chain. Starting point of the method is a repertoire of antibody binding sites, with paired variable regions, such as in this example, an Fab repertoire. Similarly single chain Fv libraries can be used. In a typical selection (top) the initially present pairing of variable regions is maintained throughout the iterative selection process; in the selection followed by reshuffling (steps 1-3), one of the two variable regions (for example the heavy chain) of the pairs that have been selected on antigen, is combined with partner domains (for example light chains) derived from either the selected population or from the original population). After this the selection (step 4), and the subsequent procedure are repeated. Eventually, individual antigen-reactive antibodies are identified by screening methods.

FIG. 6: Example of a competitive selection of antibodies with a desirable pairing behavior. The method involves the co-expression of one or more competing antibodies (top, left) in the same host cell as a member of an antibody library (bottom, left). Depicted is the method for Fab fragments, as described in the text. The result of the pairing opportunities of VHCH1 (white boxes) chain when co-expressed with two other Fab fragments is depicted. The original combination of the VH with its cognate light chain (hatched box), will retain its original binding affinity for antigen and can thus be selected.

FIG. 7: Identifying antigen-specific antibodies by co-transfecting heavy chain gene libraries with an invariant light chain gene and screening the resulting antibody mixtures for antigen reactive antibodies. With every cycle of transfection and screening, the diversity of the VH library is reduced (at position *), to eventually yield a population of antigen-reactive heavy chain variable genes. The numbers indicate that sampling of a library of 10⁸ different heavy chains can be carried out by screening the wells of ten 96-well tissue culture with each 100 clones per well.

FIG. 8: Identifying antigen-specific antibodies by transfecting secretable heavy chain gene libraries, assembly with an invariant light chain and screening the resulting antibody mixtures for antigen reactive antibodies. With every cycle of transfection and screening, the diversity of the VH library is reduced (at position *), to eventually yield a population of antigen-reactive heavy chain variable genes.

FIG. 9: Screening antibody mixtures produced by the same host cell for optimal bio-activity. Mixtures are made by transfecting heavy chain genes encoding the antibodies of interest (here number is 10) together with optimally paired light chain, followed by cloning of cell lines, selecting stably producing cell lines, and eventually screening the resulting antibody mixtures for optimal bio-activity.

FIG. 10: Examples of antibodies with cross-over domains. Heavy chain domains (grey striped boxes) and light chain domains (white boxes).

FIG. 11: Ex vivo assembly of antibodies (A) and the universal antibody concept (B). Antibodies are produced as separate chains and then combined to form a functional antibody. This is in particularly interesting when making mixtures of antibodies, as indicated in (B), where depending on the input of the chains and the separation of the mixing reactions.

FIG. 12: Dependent expression of Ig chains. Chain-1 is typically the heavy chain, which is under control of a promoter (P). The IRES sequence links the expression of the heavy chain with that of a transactivator; this activates a responsive promoter to induce expression of Chain-2, typically the light chain (see, text for details).

FIG. 13: The sequence of pSCFV (SEQ ID NO:148 of the SEQUENCE LISTING, incorporated herein by this reference), a pUC119-based plasmid suitable for stepwise cloning of antibody variable regions and expression of scFv fragments.

FIGS. 14A and 14B: Schematic depiction of plasmid pSCFV-3 (A) and pSCFV-3 with three cloned scFv fragments, in this case derived from the antibodies JA, JB and M57. The black box is a schematic depiction of the histidine stretch; other C-terminal-based tags are also indicated. S, signal sequence; rbs, ribosome binding site; AMPr, ampicillin resistance gene (beta-lactamase).

FIG. 15: Schematic depiction of the eukaryotic expression vector VHExpress as also described in (Persic et al. (1997) 187:9-18) except that this variant has a CMV promoter; its use for cloning scFv fragments (top, indicated for antibody JA) such that the expression of scFv-Fc fusions is achieved.

FIG. 16: Sequence alignment of the three light chains amino acid sequences of antibodies JA (Kappa) (SEQ ID NO:110), and JB (SEQ ID NO:112) and M57 (SEQ ID NO:114) (both lambdas). The position of the CDRs is indicated.

FIGS. 17A and 17B: pFAB-display: Schematic depiction of pFAb-display (top), and indication of cloning of VLCL and VH regions; the polylinker region (below). Legend as in FIG. 14.

FIGS. 18A-18F: Mutagenesis of heavy chain variable region of the JA antibody (SEQ ID NO:109); underlined region was mutagenized. Other regions known to be important for the interaction with the VL: the residues at the positions marked in color (bottom) or with the boxes around the JA-VH sequence are, alternatively, suitable for mutagenesis (based on data from worldwideweb.biochem.unizh.ch/antibody/Structures/DimContacts/VHDimHistFrame.html).

FIG. 19: Outline of an expression vector for human monoclonal antibodies in eukaryotic cells. CMV: CMV promoter; p(A): polyadenylation signal; Neo: neomycin resistance gene; Amp: ampicillin resistance gene.

FIG. 20: Outline of the expression cassette and expression vectors for use with eukaryotic cells. The legend of the vector elements is depicted on the right. On the left hand side top panel are depicted, as examples, four eukaryotic expression cassettes for three antibody heavy chains and one light chain. The elements found in an expression cassette for a single antibody chain encoding gene or nucleic acid typically comprises a promoter, a Leader sequence, an open reading frame encoding the antibody chain of interest, a polyadenylation region and terminator, all in operable configuration. Further sites/regions used for site-directed and in some cases homologous, recombination, are shown (are also optional; indicated on top of the first expression cassette). On the bottom panel is depicted an exemplary vector backbone used for insertion of the top panel cassette(s). This scheme displays the typical elements of a eukaryotic expression vector, comprising a bacterial origin of replication (such as Col E1), a bacterial selection marker (B-Select, such as the ampicillin resistance gene), a eukaryotic selection marker (Select, such as gpt, neo, zeo, etc., see text; useful when stable integration into the host cell's genome is envisaged), and additional optional elements such as a bacteriophage packaging region (for ss-DNA production, such as f1), and an optional amplification marker (such as DHFR). Optional are other expression controlling elements (such as BEs, STAR, LCRs, MARs and the like, see below) and IRES; these are included in later figures.

FIG. 21: Schemes depicting different formats for the co-expression of antibody chain encoding genes, exemplified here for the case in which two antibodies that share a common light chain (not shown) have to be co-expressed. (A) The basic individual cassettes, as separate cassettes and cloned into separate expression vectors. (B) This cassette contains the two Heavy chain (H) genes cloned in tandem, but their expression is individually regulated, via two different promoters, P1 and P2. (C) The two H genes are cloned into transcriptionally opposite directions and in this example separated by an element that influences the expression/stability/integration frequency (further examples are given in the text). (D) Same as B, but now additional E-elements are included at the 3′ end of each of the two transcriptional units. (E) For cases in which two binding proteins should be present in the mixture at roughly similar quantities, an IRES is inserted between two H genes. (F and G) Expression cassettes for mediating the expression of two H chains, in which each of the H genes are linked via an IRES element to a selection marker (which is then selected for instead of using the vector-backbone-based marker), without (G) or with (H) additional elements in one cassette to influence expression.

FIG. 22: Plasmid pABExpress40 for expression of libraries of pairing-compatible antibodies in mammalian cells. Cloning sites for directional insertion of antibody variable region genes are indicated. See Example 11 for details. Without the STAR40 insertion into the EcoRI site, this plasmid is called pABExpress.

FIG. 23: Design of a hybrid light chain library for identifying a pairing-compatible light chain for h4D5v8 and 2C4. The amino acid sequences used by Herceptin (trastuzumab, h4D5v8) and pertuzumab (Omnitarg, 2C4) are compared to one another, and to two designer light chain libraries, HYB1 and HYB2 (see, Example 17 for details of the design). Residues identical to those of Herceptin are indicated with a dash; amino acids are encoded by the single-letter consensus; X means positions to be targeted for diversification in a library approach. Numbers indicated for the most relevant residue positions (see, text for more details).

FIG. 24: Plasmid p2Fab-HER2 used for the identification of a light chain variable region that is pairing-compatible with two HER2-binding antibodies, h4D5v8, and 2C4. The black box is a schematic depiction of the histidine tag (six Histidines); other C-terminal-based tags are also indicated. S, signal sequence; rbs, ribosome binding site; AMP^(r), ampicillin resistance gene (beta-lactamase). The version of the VL of h4D5 that is present in this vector carries two designed mutations in two CDR residues, and a stop codon (indicated with *) in the CDR2 region. By site-directed mutagenesis, the CDR2 is diversified using an oligonucleotide (designed according to approach HYB2) that simultaneously removes the stop codon as well as introduces diversity at three positions of the CDR2. This plasmid directs the expression of two antibody heavy chains (as Fd chains) and one antibody light chain, and thus allows simultaneous production, and individual detection, of two Fab fragments.

FIG. 25: Growth inhibition curves for h4D5 Fab and mixtures of 4D5* and 2C4* (see, Example 17) that utilize different light chains, indicated with VL1 to VL7. Different concentrations of these Fabs are incubated with HER2-positive cells sensitive to the growth inhibitory effect of HER2-targeting antibodies.

FIG. 26: A topology map of the annealing locations of mouse specific VH primers and the position of required restriction sites that are introduced by overhanging sequences at the 3′ end of primers.

FIG. 27: PCR amplification steps (Amplification, Intermediate and Site introduction). The location and names of the mouse VH amplification primers (and mixtures of primers) are indicated per step.

FIG. 28: Topology of the MV1043 vector. This vector is used for the cloning of human or murine VH fragments. O12 (IGKV1-39) is indicated as the VL gene. Products of this vector in combination with helper phages in E. coli cells allow the generation of phages that display Fab fragments on the surface of the phage particles as a fusion product to the g3 protein and presence of the vector in the phage as the genetic content (F1 ORI).

FIG. 29: The topology of the mouse Ckappa locus downstream of the J-segments. Both enhancers and Ckappa region are indicated. The lower arrow indicates the region that is removed in order to silence the locus.

FIG. 30: The topology of the mouse C-lambda locus. All three active V-regions are indicated (Igl-V1, V2 and V3) as are the J-segments (Igl-J1, Igl-J2, Igl-J3, Igl-J4 and the pseudo segment Igl-J3p) and constant regions (Igl-C1, Igl-C2, Igl-C3 and Igl-C4). The regions that are deleted in order to silence the locus are indicated by deletion markers. These deletions include all active V genes (1, 2 and 3) and the intergenic segment between V2 and V3.

FIG. 31: Construct topology of IGKV1-39/J-Ck with an intron located in the leader open reading frame (ORF).

FIG. 32: Construct topology of IGLV2-14/J-Ck with an intron located in the leader open reading frame (ORF).

FIG. 33: Construct topology of VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck (VkP-O12). The promoter originates from the IGKV1-39 gene and is placed directly in front of the required elements for efficient transcription and translation. Intergenic sequences (including the enhancers) are derived from mice and obtained from BAC clones. The C-kappa sequence codes for the kappa constant region of rat.

FIG. 34: Construct topology of VkP-IGLV2-14/J-Ck (VkP-2a2). The promoter originates from the IGKV1-39 gene and is placed directly in front of the required elements for efficient transcription and translation. Intergenic sequences (including the enhancers) are derived from mice and obtained from BAC clones. The C-kappa sequence codes for the kappa constant region of rat.

FIG. 35: Construct topology of VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1 (VkP-O12-del1) is identical to VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck from FIG. 34 except that the intron enhancer region is removed.

FIG. 36: Construct topology of VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ2 VkP-O12-del2) is identical to VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1 from FIG. 35 except that a large piece of the intergenic region between the Ck gene and 3′ enhancer is deleted. In addition, the 3′ enhancer is reduced in size from 809 bp to 125 bp.

FIGS. 37A-37Z: Overview of the sequences used or referred to in this application: Human germline IGKV1-39/J DNA (SEQ ID NO:84); human germline IGKV1-39/J Protein (SEQ ID NO:85); human germline IGLV2-14/J DNA (SEQ ID NO:86); human germline IGLV2-14/J Protein (SEQ ID NO:87); Rat IGCK allele a DNA (SEQ ID NO:88); Rat IGCK allele a protein (SEQ ID NO:89); IGKV1-39/J-Ck (SEQ ID NO:90); IGLV2-14/J-Ck (SEQ ID NO:91); VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck (SEQ ID NO:92); VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1 (SEQ ID NO:93); VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ2 (SEQ ID NO:94); VkP-IGLV2-14/J-Ck (SEQ ID NO:95); pSELECT-IGKV1-39/J-Ck (SEQ ID NO:96); pSelect-IGLV2-14/J-Ck (SEQ ID NO:97); MV1043 (SEQ ID NO:98); and MV1057 (SEQ ID NO:99).

FIGS. 38A-38C: Generation of Rosa26-IgVk1-39 KI allele. (FIG. 38A) Schematic drawing of the pCAGGS-IgVK1-39 targeting vector. (FIGS. 38B-1-38B-4) Nucleotide sequence of the pCAGGS-IgVK1-39 targeting vector (SEQ ID NO:100). (FIG. 38C) Targeting strategy.

FIGS. 39A-39C: (FIG. 39A) Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA of ES clones comprising an insertion of the pCAGGS-IgVK1-39 targeting vector. Genomic DNA of four independent clones was digested with AseI and probed with 5e1 indicating the 5′-border of the targeting vector. All clones comprise a correct insertion of the targeting vector at the 5′ end. (FIG. 39B) Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA of ES clones comprising an insertion of the pCAGGS-IgVK1-39 targeting vector. Genomic DNA of four independent clones was digested with MscI and probed with 3e1 indicating the 3′-border of the targeting vector. All clones comprise a correct insertion of the targeting vector at the 3′ end. (FIG. 39C) Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA of ES clones comprising an insertion of the pCAGGS-IgVK1-39 targeting vector. Genomic DNA of four independent clones was digested with BamHI and probed with an internal Neo probe indicating the 5′-border of the targeting vector. All clones comprise a correct, single insertion of the targeting vector.

FIGS. 40A-40C: Generation of Rosa26-IgV12-14 KI allele. (FIG. 40A) Schematic drawing of the pCAGGS-IgVL2-14 targeting vector. (FIGS. 40B-1-40B-4) Nucleotide sequence of the pCAGGS-IgVL2-14 targeting vector containing the CAGGS expression insert (SEQ ID NO:101) based on the rearranged germline IGLV2-14/J V lambda region (IGLV2-14/J-Ck). (FIG. 40C) Targeting strategy.

FIGS. 41A-41C: EPIBASE® profile of IGKV1-39 residues 1-107. FIG. 41A displays the binding strength for DRB1 allotypes, while FIG. 41C displays the binding strength for DRB3/4/5, DQ and DP allotypes. The values in the figure represent dissociation constants (Kds) and are plotted on a logarithmic scale in the range 0.01 μM-0.1 μM (very strong binders may have run off the plot). For medium binding peptides, qualitative values are given only, and weak and non-binders are not shown. Values are plotted on the first residue of the peptide in the target sequence (the peptide itself extends by another nine residues). Importantly, only the strongest binding receptor for each peptide is shown: cross-reacting allotypes with lower affinity are not visible in this plot. The strongest binding receptor is indicated by its serotypic name. Finally, any germline-filtered peptides are plotted with a lighter color in the epitope map (in this case, no non-self epitopes were found). FIG. 41B shows the HLA binding promiscuity for every decameric peptide (Y-axis: the number of HLA allotypes recognizing critical epitopes in each of the peptides starting at the indicated residue shown on the X-axis). The promiscuity is measured as the number of allotypes out of the total of 47 for which the peptide is a critical binder. White columns refer to self-peptides, and black columns (absent here) to non-self peptides.

FIG. 42: Epitope map of IGKV1-39 showing the presence of peptide binders predicted in the sequence of IGKV1-39 by serotype in the 15-mer format. Each 15-mer is numbered as indicated in the top of the figure. The full sequence of the corresponding 15-mer is listed in Table 7. Black boxes indicate the presence of one or more critical self-epitopes in the 15-mer for the serotype listed on the left. Critical epitopes are operationally defined as strong or medium DRB1 binders and strong DRB3/4/5 or DP or DQ binders.

FIGS. 43A and 43B: Constitutive knock-out (KO) of the Ig kappa locus. (FIG. 43A) Targeting strategy. (FIG. 43B) Schematic drawing of the pIgKappa targeting vector.

FIGS. 44A and 44B: Constitutive KO of the Ig lambda locus. (FIG. 44A) First step of the targeting strategy. (FIG. 44B) Second step of the targeting strategy.

FIGS. 45A-45C: Schematic drawing of targeting vectors. (FIG. 45A) pVkP-O12 (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck); (FIG. 45B) pVkP-O12-del1 (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1); (FIG. 45C) pVkP-O12-del2 (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ2).

FIGS. 46A-46C: Targeting strategies for insertion of transgene into the Rosa26 locus by targeted transgenesis using RMCE. (FIG. 46A) VkP-O12 (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck); (FIG. 46B) VkP-O12-del1 (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1); (FIG. 46C) VkP-O12-del2 (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ2).

FIG. 47: Topology of the MV1057 vector. Replacing the indicated stuffer fragment with a VH fragment yields an expression vector that can be transfected to eukaryotic cells for the production of IgG1 antibodies with light chains containing an O12 (IGKV1-39) VL gene.

FIGS. 48A-48C: Lack of transgenic human Vk1 light chain expression in non-B cell populations of the spleen.

FIGS. 49A and 49B: Transgenic human Vk1 light chain is expressed in all B cell populations of the spleen.

FIGS. 50A and 50B: Transgenic human Vk1 light chain is expressed in B1 cells of the peritoneal cavity.

FIGS. 51A-1, 51A-2, 51B-1, and 51B-2: Transgenic human Vk1 light chain is not expressed in pro- and pre-B cells but in the immature and recirculating populations B cells in the bone marrow. (FIGS. 51A-1 and 51A-2) Gating of bone marrow cells. (FIGS. 51B-1 and 51B-2) Histograms of transgene expression with overlay from one WT control.

FIGS. 52A and 52B: Transgenic human Vk1 light chain is directly correlated with endogenous light chain and IgM expression in circulating B cells in the blood.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the fight against infection, the immune system creates a cellular and humoral response that can specifically combat the infectious agent. The humoral immune response is based on immunoglobulins, or antibodies, which contact antigens and mediate certain effector functions to clear the infection ((I. M. Roit, et al. (1985)) and all references herein). In the immune system, antibodies are generated by B-lymphocytes. Antibodies consist of heavy and light chains that are assembled via inter-domain pairing and interchain disulphide bonds to form multivalent molecules. Various isotypes of natural antibodies exist, including IgG (within humans, four subclasses, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4), IgM, IgD, IgA and IgE. An IgG molecule contains two heavy (H) and two light (L) chains, both with a variable (V) and constant (C) regions. A typical IgG antibody comprises two heavy (H) chain variable regions (abbreviated herein as VH), and two light (L) chain variable regions (abbreviated herein as VL). The VH and VL regions can be further subdivided into regions of hypervariability, termed “complementarity-determining regions” (“CDR”), interspersed with regions that are more conserved, termed “framework regions” (FR). The extent of the framework region and CDRs has been precisely defined (see, E. A. Kabat, et al. (1991) Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest, Fifth Edition, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIH Publication No. 91-3242, and C. Chothia, et al. (1987) J. Mol. Biol. 196:901-917, which are incorporated herein by reference).

In the generation of the primary immune response, the pairing of heavy and light variable region sequences of antibodies is a random process. The variable region genes are first assembled by recombining of a set randomly picked V. (D) and J genetic elements represented in the genome as a diverse gene pool. The recombined heavy and light variable regions are then spliced towards their respective constant region genes and the chains expressed, assembled and secreted as immunoglobulin. In this combinatorial library, in principle every heavy chain can pair with every light chain, to create a vast repertoire of different antigen specificities, with diversity derived from the rearrangement process (which also introduces further diversity at some of the segment junctions) and from the combinatorial assembly of the heavy and light chain variable regions. In principle, B-cells produce only one antibody specificity, encoded by one antibody heavy and one antibody light chain sequence. The immune system selects via an efficient antigen-selection process those antibodies that can bind to a given antigen, in particular, when the antigen is foreign and part of a pathogen.

In natural immunoglobulins, the light chain which consists of two domains, is paired to the heavy chain, which consists of at least four domains and a hinge region: non-covalent interactions occur between VH and VL, and between CH1 and CL; between the latter a disulphide bridge provides a covalent linkage between heavy and light chains. Furthermore, the heavy chains are found paired to one another, i.e., in the IgG format, and sometimes further associate with additional elements such as J-chains (e.g., in the IgM format). A strong non-covalent interaction occurs between the CL and CH1 domains, a frequently weaker interaction is present between VL and VH. The heavy chains are paired via interactions in the hinge region (often covalently associated via one or more disulphide bridges) and between the CH2 and CH3 domains. By sequencing large pools of antibody variable genes from isolated B-cell and comparing the frequency of the pairings of VH and VL segments, it was confirmed that this pairing between VH and VL regions is on average a random process. However, since the variable regions are genetically diverse and some of this diversity at the amino acid level is structurally situated at the predicted interface region between the two domains, the pairing of one given VH to another VL is not any more random. For example, pairing of a given VH with another VL than the molecule was initially selected with, may lead to loss of affinity of binding for the antigen, but may also lead to a reduced pairing efficiency. Within one B-cell, typically and normally only one light and one heavy chain is expressed, but in the few instances that other light or heavy chains are expressed (such as in two fused B-cells), mispairing between the chains will occur, and antigen binding is lost in this fraction of the antibody preparation. For example, in the past, the expression of multiple antibody variable domains, as in quadromas or cells transfected with multiple heavy and/or light chain genes, typically yields a large fraction of pairings of variable regions that are not functional. In order to build bispecific antibodies, the pairing of different antibody heavy and light chains when expressed in the same cell was investigated intensively. From studies of the pairing in antibodies derived from hybrid hybridomas made by fusing two antibody-producing hybridomas, the pairing was shown to be based on a random association of light and heavy chains with some cases where a certain level of preferential pairing was seen, but not enough to prevent mispairing to occur.

Described herein are a variety of methods to select antibodies with optimal pairing behavior of antibody chains. With such methods, compositions of multiple antibodies with different binding specificities can be made.

1. Antibodies with Pairing-Compatible Variable Regions

a. Summary

Herein, disclosed are methods and means for obtaining antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions. The presence of such variable regions facilitate the predictability and functionality of the resulting pairing between the antibody variable regions. Two antibodies contain pairing-compatible variable regions when the pairing of the variable regions in a mixture of all variable regions combined, occurs in such manner that predominantly functional binding sites arise as a result of the pairing. Two antibodies have pairing-compatible variable regions when, for example, the variable light chain domains of both antibodies can be exchanged by the one of the other antibody, without drastically altering the antigen-binding affinity of the two antibodies. Another example of when antibodies have pairing-compatible variable regions, is when they share an identical or closely related variable region. In that case, pairing of the two partner domains to this shared region will lead to the formation of functional binding sites.

Methods for the identification of antibodies that have pairing-compatible variable regions are described. In the simplest form, pairing-compatible variable regions in sets of antibodies are identified by virtue of the sequence identity of the V-regions. In another approach, pairing compatible variable regions are identified by empirical exchange of V-genes or V-gene fragments between given antibodies, and testing antigen binding. In another approach, antibodies with a high likelihood of containing pairing-compatible variable regions can be enriched from antibody repertoires by combinations of selections and re-shuffling. Using appropriate selection strategies, antibody pairing may be selected to become promiscuous or exclusive in the context of the desired multiple antibody variable genes. A method is also described for providing a given antibody with pairing-compatible variable sequencing, using various mutagenesis and selection technologies. In another approach, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are selected from synthetic antibody libraries with a high probability of identifying antibodies with such elements (for example, from a library with only one variegated variable domain). Further, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are created by first selecting an antigen-specific single-domain antibody, and then providing this with a second domain that will pair with the first one to form a two-domain molecule.

Pairing-compatible variable regions can be identified in order to replace sequences in an antibody by the equivalent sequences of another antibody that are thought to mediate more favorable characteristics. The transfer of pairing-compatible variable regions between antibodies can be used to alter the pairing capability and pairing strength of the antibody chains, but it can also be envisaged to alter the immunogenicity, idiotype and expression yield of antibodies. Antibodies bearing such elements are also highly suitable for making pharmaceutical compositions of antibodies with multiple binding sites, for example, for making mixtures of antibodies containing such elements, by co-expression in the same host cell. In particular, when the variable regions share a full variable domain (such as the light chain), co-expression will yield functional binding sites only. Antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are suitable for the creation of mixtures of antibodies, in which the antibodies are either solely monospecific, or bispecific, or a mixture of mono- and bispecific antibodies, or even, depending on the choice of isotypes with more than two binding sites (e.g., sIgA, IgM), combinations of multiple specificities within the same antibody molecule. Such approaches provide a means to have in the same pharmaceutical preparation antibodies with multiple specificities, and, if required, combinations of specificities within the same molecule.

b. Sources of Antibodies

Suitable antibodies can be derived from a variety of sources, including monoclonal antibodies, phage antibodies, antibodies from transgenic animals, etc. Monoclonal antibodies are obtained from a population of substantially homogeneous antibodies using a hybridoma method first described by Kohler and Milstein, Nature 256:495 (1975) or may be made by recombinant DNA methods. In the hybridoma method, a mouse or other appropriate host animal, is immunized to elicit lymphocytes that are capable of producing antibodies that will specifically bind to the antigen used for immunization. Alternatively, lymphocytes may be immunized in vitro. Lymphocytes are fused with myeloma cells using a suitable fusing agent, such as polyethylene glycol, to form a hybridoma cell. Antibodies can also be isolated from transgenic animals that harbor human immunoglobulin genes.

Antibodies or antibody fragments can also be isolated using display-based antibody library technology, wherein antibody fragments are selected by exposing a library of such antibodies displayed on the surface of phage, yeast or other host cell, to the antigen of interest, and isolating those antibody fragments which bind to the antigen preparation. A display library is a collection of entities; each entity includes an accessible polypeptide component and a recoverable component that encodes or identifies the peptide component. Many antibody fragments have been displayed on the surface of entities that carry the genetic material encoding the antibody fragment inside the entity, such as bacteriophages. This format is termed “phage display.” Phage display is described, for example, in Ladner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,409; Smith (1985) Science 228:1315-1317. Other display formats utilize peptide-nucleic acid fusions. Polypeptide-nucleic acid fusions can be generated by the in vitro translation of mRNA that includes a covalently attached puromycin group, e.g., as described in Roberts and Szostak (1997) Proc. Natd. Acad Sci. U.S.A. 94:12297-12302, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,446. The mRNA can then be reverse transcribed into DNA and cross-linked to the polypeptide. In still another display format the library is a cell-display library. Proteins are displayed on the surface of a cell, e.g., a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell. Exemplary prokaryotic cells include E. coli cells, B. subtilis cells, spores, exemplary eukaryotic cells include yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Hansenula polymorpha, Pichia pastoris, Kluyveromyces lactis, insect cells, and mammalian cells. Methods for the display of antibody fragments and the construction of antibody libraries in a variety of formats are well described in the literature and known to those skilled in the art.

c. Identifying Pairing-Compatible Elements in Panels of Antigen-Reactive Antibodies

Antibodies with pairing-compatible variable region sequences and, therefore, suitable pairing behavior of variable regions, are identified by a variety of methods that are disclosed within this document. In a first approach, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are selected from panels of antigen-specific antibodies (in which the antigen can be one defined target antigen but also a collection of different antigens, and the panel contains at least two antibodies), as follows. The sequences of heavy and light variable regions are determined and inspected to find clones with identical or highly similar light or heavy chain variable domains. If the amino acid sequence of part of or the complete variable region is identical for two antibodies, the two given antibodies have a pairing-compatible variable region.

In another approach, pairing-compatible variable regions are identified in amino acid sequences that appear related yet have amino acid differences: for example, if there are differences in the amino acid sequence but the same or related germ line segment is used, or when highly similar CDR regions are used, or if similar canonical folds in some CDR regions are found yet different germ line segments are used, the variable regions may still comprise pairing-compatible variable regions. This is confirmed by swapping the variable region(s) between the antibodies in the panel, and measuring antigen binding of the new pairs. Experimentally light and heavy chains or parts thereof can be exchanged by recombinant DNA methods such as restriction enzyme-based DNA cloning, oligonucleotide-based mutagenesis, gene synthesis and PCR-mediated mutagenesis, methods which are widely available in the art. Binding assays that can be used are well established in the art and known to those skilled in the art; some are described below. This method may identify cases in which both variable regions can be exchanged between two antibodies, such as two related light chains that can be swapped with no or an acceptable effect on the affinity. It can also identify cases in which only one of the variable regions of the two antibodies can tolerate the exchange, for example, one light chain that functionally pairs with one of two heavy chains only, while the other light chain can functionally pair with both heavy chains. In that case the latter light chain can be used to replace the former non-matching one and, thus, create two antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions. Functional pairing means that the variable region pairing has ideally no effect on antigen-binding affinity or specificity, but allowable may also be a <10-fold reduction in affinity, and at the most a 100-fold reduction in affinity, or any improvement of affinity.

In another embodiment, pairing-compatible variable regions are identified in panels of antibodies without knowing or using the sequence of the variable regions of the antibodies. First a collection of antibody variants is created in which all variable regions are combined with the other partner variable regions of the antibodies in the panel. Then, the effect on antigen binding is established empirically, to identify those antibodies with can functionally pair to the variable regions of the other antibodies in the panel (FIG. 2). This method identifies pairing-compatible variable regions that are not immediately identified by sequence comparison. Instead of using the partner variable regions derived of the antibodies in the panel, also other partner variable regions can be used. For example, the heavy chain variable region of each of the antibodies in the panel is combined with a set of chosen light chain variable regions, for example, consisting of mainly germ line encoded segments representative of one or more of the light chain kappa or lambda gene families. Pairing-compatible variable regions are then identified by screening the combinations for antigen binding and scoring whether one common variable region provides antigen binding for the desired set of antibodies in the panel. These methods can be based on assessment of antigen binding of individual combination of the variable region genes, thus co-expression of two variable regions in the desired antibody format, or of antigen binding of multiple combinations of variable regions derived from co-expression in the same host cell. For example, two antibody heavy chain variable regions can be expressed inside the same host cell as Fd chain, and co-expressed with one light chain, and antigen binding for both antibody binding sites assessed. Further, by differentially tagging the two heavy chains, for example, with epitope tags such as tags derived from c-myc, VSV, HA, etc., the pairing of the two H-L combinations can be followed. Such an approach is suitable for finding pairing-compatible variable regions if a limited number of starting antibodies is available and allows the screening of large collections of partner variable regions.

Examples of pairing-compatible variable regions are V-regions based upon highly homologous germ line segments, or V-regions that differ by changes in the amino acid sequence (e.g., with somatic or other mutations, minor deletions, additions, substitutions). In such case, the effect of the exchange of the homologous region in the first antibody may differ from the effect seen with the exchange of the homologous region in the second antibody; e.g., there are cases where the affinity is changed to an allowable level for only one of the two antibodies, and cases where this occurs for both antibodies. In one embodiment, the pairing-compatible variable region comprises the light chain variable region or part of the light chain variable region. In another embodiment, the pairing-compatible variable regions comprise the heavy chain variable region or part of the heavy chain variable region.

Another embodiment of an approach to identify pairing-compatible variable regions in a panel of antibodies is the following. First the variable region of each of the antibodies is co-expressed with a partner variable region derived from the other antibodies in the panel, and a screen carried out that will detect the presence of intact antibody (thus, not antigen binding). The formation of intact antibody indicates pairing between the two variable regions; if no intact antibody is retrieved, this will indicate that the two variable regions are not pairing inside the host cell. The screening can be used to identify antibodies that display variable regions that cannot pair with one another in the chosen antibody format, i.e., as Fab fragments expressed in E. coli or as IgG molecules expressed in eukaryotic cells. When co-expressing the four variable region genes, only the cognate interactions occur, and the variable region genes are pairing-compatible.

d. Antibodies with Pairing-Compatible Variable Regions from Antibody Libraries

In certain embodiments, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are selected from synthetic antibody libraries with a high probability of identifying antibodies with such elements. Synthetic antibody libraries are collections of antibodies that have been synthetically diversified (e.g., using site-directed mutagenesis or PCR-based gene synthesis using mutagenized oligonucleotides) in defined regions/locations within their variable regions. In one embodiment, the design of the diversity introduced into the primary antibody repertoire is such that at least a portion of a variable region and, for example, a complete variable region is not diversified, while the remaining area contains the diversity (examples in FIGS. 3, 4(a), 4(c) and 4(d)). Examples of such libraries are libraries based on human variable region genes, for example, a set of 49 different heavy chain genes with diversity introduced in the VH-CDR3, all combined with a single light chain (H. R. Hoogenboom, et al. (1992) J. Mol. Biol. 227:381-388). Antibodies selected from such repertoires will contain by design pairing-compatible variable regions. Such repertoires can be created by recombinant DNA methods and displayed on the surface of phage, cells, spores, ribosomes, or can be created in transgenic mice carrying only partial diversity in the V-gene composition. Synthetic diversity can be introduced in all CDR residues, in a subset of CDR residues, i.e., those with significant solvent exposure, and can be designed to encode all or a subset of amino acids, i.e., those that are commonly observed in natural antibody CDRs. An example of such tailored antibody library, with a single heavy chain variable domain scaffold and a fixed light chain variable domain, and with a limited number of heavy chain CDR residues variegated with a limited number of encoding amino acids is described in J. Mol. Biol. 338:299-310 and in WO 03/102157A2. Alternatively, to libraries with synthetic diversity in one variable region, also libraries with natural diversity, or combinations of natural and synthetic diversity (e.g., synthetic diversity in CDR1 and CDR2 and natural diversity in CDR3) in one variable region may be used.

In one embodiment, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are obtained by first selecting an antigen-specific single-domain antibody, and then providing this with a second domain that will pair with the first one to form a two-domain molecule (examples in FIG. 4, columns (b) and (e)). Single-domain antibodies may be isolated from in vitro display repertoires made from single-domain repertoire of certain human variable region fragments, such as human VH or human VL repertoires. In another embodiment, single domain antibodies are isolated from non-immunized, immunized or synthetic VHH repertoires, based on antibody heavy chain domains naturally devoid of light chains (e.g., camel, lama or some shark antibodies). Single-domain VH-based antibodies with antigen-binding activity can be combined via recombinant DNA technology with a single, a small repertoire, a chosen collection or a large repertoire of light chains, for example of human nature. Antigen-binding variants of single-domains now forced to contain a paired light chain, may be isolated using display technology based or equivalent methods. In another embodiment, single-domain VL-based antibodies with antigen-binding activity are combined via recombinant DNA technology with a single, a small repertoire, a chosen collection or a large repertoire of heavy chains, for example of human nature. Antigen-binding variants of single-domains now forced to contain a paired heavy chain, may be isolated using display technology-based or equivalent methods. In the embodiments of FIG. 5, the variants derived from the same route of isolation will always share a variable region sequence, thus will be able to provide functional pairing when brought into the context of pairing multiple variable regions.

If at least a portion of a variable region and a complete variable region is not diversified, while the rest of the variable region(s) contain the diversity, the selected antigen-binding antibodies coming from such repertoires will contain by design pairing-compatible variable regions. In many of the approaches in the literature used for building high affinity antibodies from synthetic antibody libraries, diversity in the initial library is built up throughout the antibody variable region genes and, in particular, in most of the six CDRs. Depending on the genetic make-up of these libraries, there will be a higher or lower probability of identifying antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions. Libraries can be designed to fit specifically this new application, by introducing diversity in one variable region only, and not further diversifying the shared variable region, even in further affinity maturation processes. Libraries may be used in which the diversity is restricted to the three CDRs in one chain. The partner-variable region may then be, for example, one or a small set of germ line gene-encoded regions without any further diversity. In the primary library or follow-up libraries, diversity can be introduced in those areas of the antibody V-regions that are less likely to interact with the partner chain, so as to increase the chances of finding antigen-binding antibodies with high affinity, yet well pairing variable regions.

Antibodies with a high likelihood of containing pairing-compatible variable regions can also be enriched from antibody repertoires not biased in their genetic make-up, by combinations of selections and re-shuffling of, for example, the complete V-region of a given population or clone (exemplified in FIG. 5). This will enrich for those antigen-specific antibodies with a high likelihood of containing pairing-compatible variable regions, for example, because they are tolerant in their pairing with the shuffled region yet retain antigen-binding, or because the shuffled region is less likely to contribute to antigen binding. For example, an antibody Fab library is first enriched on antigen, and the selected heavy chains obtained after one or more rounds of selection are then recombined with the selected or unselected light chain repertoire (dashed lines in FIG. 5), and selected again on antigen (FIG. 5, step 4). In this way the selected antibody variable heavy chain domains will have the propensity to bind to the antigen relatively independently of the light chain to which it is paired. Antibodies to a first and second antigen can be identified by using the above-described selection and re-shuffling experiment, followed by a screening as before, to detect antigen binding of the selected heavy chains in combination with a collection of light chains. One may then identify those antibodies that bind either the first or the second antigen relatively independently of the light chain, or in the present of a related light chain family member. Due to the dominance of the heavy chain in antigen binding in these antibodies, many of the light chains are likely to functionally pair with the multiple heavy chain variable regions. Co-expression of antibodies with a pairing-tolerant variable region that is mediating antigen binding (such as the VH), and in which the partner domain is not involved or not important for antigen binding (such as the VL), will similarly lead to the formation of mainly or only functional binding sites.

In another embodiment, described is a method to obtain antibodies with heavy and light variable regions that preferentially or in the best case, exclusively, pair to one another and not to the respective light and heavy variable regions of one or more other antibodies, for example, those that are co-expressed in the same host. Such selection can be done by display methodology, but also using an intracellular selection route that relies on co-expression of antibody light and Fd chains in the same cell, allowing competition between the chains, and rescue of the intended combination via phage display or any other suitable route. The preferential or ideally exclusive pairing that is encountered in faithful antibodies will aid in the formation of mainly or only functional binding sites when such antibodies are co-expressed. This method essentially allows a high level of functional antibody binding sites to form even when variable region genes are used that have very distinct compositions.

A method for identifying antibodies with desired pairing behavior based on competition selection is described here. Antibodies are selected from a library of antibody fragments, by carrying out a selection directly in a host cell that co-expresses different antibodies. For example, when applied to using bacteriophage libraries, this concept is the following: bacteria are provided with a phage or phagemid genome that carries the genes encoding a Fab fragment in such manner that upon expression, one of the chains will be anchored to a phage particle. In the same host cell, other antibody light and/or heavy chain Fd fragments are co-expressed, for example, the Fab genes encoding a given antibody, or any set of multiple antibodies. For example, consider co-expression of two Fabs in the same cell, one of which is anchored via its heavy chain (Fd fragment, essentially VH-CH1) to the phage coat protein. As a consequence of this co-expression, competition occurs inside the same cell (in this case in the periplasm) between the two light chains for the pairing to the phage-anchored Fd chain. Further, the soluble heavy chain of the competing Fab will be able to pair with both light chains present in the same cell. In this system, phage particles with antigen binding activity will occur with different types of pairings. First, if the correct light chain will pair with its partner heavy chain on the phage only (exclusive pairing), and second, if the heavy chain on the phage surface is dominant in antigen binding and tolerant for pairing, yielding antigen binding virtually irrespective of which light chain it pairs with. Functionally such antibody pairs will behave in the same manner. In the case of the first situation, the lesser interactions between the partners of the two respective antibody pairs, the higher the proportion of functional Fab on phage.

The method described can be further biased towards antibodies with an exclusive pairing, by providing tags on the chains and enriching or depleting for particular combinations (e.g., depleting for those phage that carry the competitor light chains via a unique tag present on these chains). This method when applied to the isolation of antibodies via the selection of a phage library of Fabs, will yield a high frequency of antibodies that will have an appropriate pairing behavior and high functional yield when produced as mixture by co-expression. The use of competition-selection to bias selected antibodies towards being co-expression compatible, may also be applied to other display libraries (e.g., yeast display libraries), and to in vitro library systems based on ribosome display or mRNA display (Puromycin system), with methods of screening or selection of antibodies that recognize antigen as extensively described in the art. Further, the described method of competition-selection of antibody fragments for improved pairing (or antigen-selection and compatible pairing) using phage display can be readily translated into an intracellular (periplasmic) selection system based on protein- or enzyme complementation. In such approaches, fragmented, complementary or self-inhibitory enzymes are used to drive the selection of interacting molecules that are fused to the components of the selection system. Only when there is an interaction of a minimal strength will the protein or enzyme become activated, and under appropriate selection conditions, will the cells survive. Such methods have, for example, been described for the enzymes beta-lactamase and DHFR, with its applications in the selection of antibodies or expressed cDNA fragments that display a particular binding behavior. For example, competitive selection has been described for the affinity maturation of antibodies in the TACZYME system from Kalobios Inc. Herein, it is not the antigen binding but the pairing strength that can be made the selective force for a given population of antibodies presented in such system.

In some embodiments, the method is used to identify new antibodies from phage libraries that show pairing-compatible variable regions with an existing antibody that has given variable region sequences. The antibody with the known antigen specificity is cloned for co-expression as Fab fragment in host cell that collectively express a phage display library of human Fab antibodies. This can be done by providing the Fab expression cassette onto a plasmid that is compatible with the presence of a phage or phagemid genome, such as the pBR322-based plasmid. Host cells harboring this plasmid are then infected with the phage particles encoding a library of human Fabs cloned into, for example, a phagemid vector such as pUC119, or a phage vector such as fd-tet-DOG1. While the competing Fab fragment is expressed, new phage particles are harvested (after helper phage infection if appropriate) from this culture. These particles are used for selection on antigen, and the resulting phage reinfected into cells harboring the competitor Fab fragment. After a few iterative rounds, the phage Fabs are screened for antigen binding in a binding assay; the pairing behavior between the reactive Fabs and the variable regions of the competing Fab can be further tested by co-expression and binding assays. One example of a format for this selection is the Fab format and not the scFv format, mainly because for most applications whole IgG-type antibodies will need to be established that have interactions between the chains that harbor the variable regions that mimic those seen in the Fab format. FIG. 6 depicts an example of how this method works for two Fabs competing with antibodies in a phage library.

This method requires some optimization steps, e.g., the use of a CH1-mutant with reduced affinity for its CL, and Fabs that do not display an intermolecular disulphide bridge such that the pairing will remain noncovalent. Residues positioned at the CH1-CL interface region may be mutated such that affinity between these two domains is reduced, for example, 10-fold or 100-fold, and as a result in the Fab format the pairing of the variable domains will become more dominant in driving the two chains together. Antibodies selected from such mutated Fab libraries, or from Fv libraries in which there is no covalent association between the two variable regions, may be biased towards having a preferential pairing behavior.

In a further embodiment, described is the creation of antibody libraries in which provisions are made to mediate unique pairing between the heavy and light chains, such that they are unlikely to interact with antibodies derived from a “regular” or non-purposely biased composition. An example of such provision is a knobs-into-holes engineered CH3-CH3 pair, in which one domain is provided with an amino acid with a large, bulky side chain (e.g., a tyrosine; the knob) that pokes out into the interface region, while the other domain at the equivalent structural position, carries one or more mutations (e.g., three) to create a hole into which the “knob” will fit. Examples of such engineered domain interfaces have also been published for variable regions (Zhu et al. (1997) Protein Science 6:781-788). It was shown that the effects of domain interface mutants are context (antibody) dependent, which provides also an opportunity to engineer the variable region domain interactions in an antibody-specific manner, in such way that when multiple antibody variable gene pairs are allowed to pair, mainly or only the cognate pairings are retrieved. Alternatively, installing a disulphide bond between the domains may mediate a preferential pairing. Alternatively, charge replacements are introduced in the framework regions, or combinations of these with sterically complementary mutations, to disfavor mispairing with one, and/or more favorable pairing with the other partner variable region. Selection systems for such mutant libraries have been described earlier, and include the selection of the domain libraries on antigen via phage display of the paired variable regions (in scFv or Fab or, IgG format), or ribosome display of the scFv fragments, or selections based on the interaction itself instead of that with antigen. An example of the latter is described for selecting heterodimers of the immunoglobulin gamma-1 CH3 domain (Atwell et al. (1997) J. Mol. Biol. 270:26-35), which is applicable as follows: on of the two variable regions that should or should not interact (depending on what one would like to select for, repulsion or attraction/pairing) is displayed on phage (for example as VLCL or as VHCH1 chain), while the other is genetically tagged and produced in solution (for example as VHCH1 or as VLCL). The interaction between the two variable regions can than be selected for, using standard phage selection protocols and anti-tag reagents. Co-expression with a pair of non-tagged competitor variable regions as described earlier can be used to drive the selection towards variable region pairs that exclusively pair with one another.

In another embodiment of selecting binding sites with appropriate pairing behavior, described here are the use of antibodies derived from VH-VH libraries on the one hand and VL-VL libraries on the other; or the use of chimeric libraries in which elements (one or more CDR regions) are swapped between VH and VL. In another embodiment, comprised is the creation of two antibody libraries with such provisions made to mediate unique pairing between the heavy and light chains, such that when antibodies from these libraries are co-expressed, they will likely preferentially pair with the right partner.

Cited libraries of antibodies can take various forms. As a source of antibodies, a naive human library may be used, such as the antibody libraries described by Griffiths (A. D. Griffiths, et al. (1993) EMBO J. 12:725-734), Vaughan (T. J. Vaughan, et al. (1996) Nat. Biotechnol. 14:309-314), or de Haard (H. J. de Haard, et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:18218-18230). Both heavy and light chains in these libraries are derived from the repertoires of rearranged V-genes derived from the mRNA of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from unimmunized humans and are, therefore, highly diverse. Alternatively, as a source of antibodies an immunized host or patient with biased humoral response (e.g., patients with infections, autoimmune diseases, etc.) is used. In immune libraries made from a hapten-immunized animal, it was shown that many of the clones were promiscuous and allowed pairing of the originally selected heavy and light chains with partner chains derived from other selected clones. Thus, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions may be more frequent in such immune libraries than in non-immune libraries.

Cited selection and screening technologies of recombinant antibodies and their fragments are well established in the field. Antigen-specific polypeptides can be identified from display libraries by direct screening of the library, or can be first selected on antigen to increase the percentage of antigen-reactive clones. The selection process may be accomplished by a variety of techniques well known in the art, including by using the antigen bound to a surface (e.g, a plastic surface, as in panning), or by using the antigen bound to a solid phase particle which can be isolated on the basis of the properties of the beads (e.g., colored latex beads or magnetic particles), or by cell sorting, especially fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). As will be apparent to one of skill in the art, the antigen-specific affinity reagent may be bound directly or indirectly (e.g., via a secondary antibody) to the dye, substrate, or particle. Selection procedures have been extensively described in the literature (see, e.g, Hoogenboom (1997) Trends Biotechnol. 15:62-70). Other publications describe the production of high affinity (nanomolar range) human antibodies from very large collections of antibodies, and the affinity maturation of these antibodies by chain shuffling or other approaches (reviewed in, e.g., H. R. Hoogenboom, et al. (2000) Immunol. Today 21:371-378). Binding of antibodies to their respective antigens may be carried out using antibody-based assay techniques, such as ELISA techniques, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) analysis, affinity chromatography and the like, according to methods known to those skilled in the art (see, for example, Sambrook et al., 1989, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press). These techniques are viable alternatives to the traditional hybridoma techniques for isolation of “monoclonal” antibodies (especially when human antibodies are required), which are encompassed herein.

The following describes possible embodiments of exemplary assays for binding assays: ELISA. Polypeptides encoded by a display library can also be screened for a binding property using an ELISA assay. For example, each polypeptide is contacted to a microtiter plate whose bottom surface has been coated with the target, e.g., a limiting amount of the target. The plate is washed with buffer to remove non-specifically bound polypeptides. Then the amount of the polypeptide bound to the plate is determined by probing the plate with an antibody that can recognize the polypeptide, e.g., a tag or constant portion of the polypeptide. The antibody is linked to an enzyme such as alkaline phosphatase, which produces a colorimetric product when appropriate substrates are provided. The polypeptide can be purified from cells or assayed in a display library format, e.g., as a fusion to a filamentous bacteriophage coat. In another version of the ELISA assay, each polypeptide of a library is used to coat a different well of a microtiter plate. The ELISA then proceeds using a constant target molecule to query each well.

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). The binding interaction of a molecule isolated from library of diversity strands with a target can be analyzed using SPR. For example, after sequencing of a display library member present in a sample, and optionally verified, e.g., by ELISA, the displayed polypeptide can be produced in quantity and assayed for binding the target using SPR. SPR or Biomolecular Interaction Analysis (BIA) detects biospecific interactions in real time, without labeling any of the interactants. Changes in the mass at the binding surface (indicative of a binding event) of the BIA chip result in alterations of the refractive index of light near the surface (the optical phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance). The changes in the refractivity generate a detectable signal, which are measured as an indication of real-time reactions between biological molecules. Methods for using SPR are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,640; Raether (1988) Surface Plasmons, Springer Verlag; Sjolander and Urbaniczky (1991) Anal. Chem. 63:2338-2345; Szabo et al. (1995) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 5:699-705 and on-line resources provide by BIAcore International AB (Uppsala, Sweden). Information from SPR can be used to provide an accurate and quantitative measure of the equilibrium dissociation constant (K_(d)), and kinetic parameters, including k_(on) and k_(off), for the binding of a biomolecule to a target. Such data can be used to compare different biomolecules. For example, proteins encoded by nucleic acid selected from a library of diversity strands can be compared to identify individuals that have high affinity for the target or that have a slow k_(off). This information can also be used to develop structure-activity relationships (SAR). For example, the kinetic and equilibrium binding parameters of matured versions of a parent protein can be compared to the parameters of the parent protein. Variant amino acids at given positions can be identified that correlate with particular binding parameters, e.g., high affinity and slow k_(off). This information can be combined with structural modeling (e.g., using homology modeling, energy minimization, or structure determination by crystallography or NMR). As a result, an understanding of the physical interaction between the protein and its target can be formulated and used to guide other design processes.

Homogeneous Binding Assays. The binding interaction of candidate polypeptide with a target can be analyzed using a homogenous assay, i.e., after all components of the assay are added, additional fluid manipulations are not required. For example, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) can be used as a homogenous assay (see, for example, Lakowicz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,169; Stavrianopoulos et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,103). Another example of a homogenous assay is Alpha Screen (Packard Bioscience, Meriden Conn.). Alpha Screen uses two labeled beads. One bead generates singlet oxygen when excited by a laser. The other bead generates a light signal when singlet oxygen diffuses from the first bead and collides with it. The signal is only generated when the two beads are in proximity. One bead can be attached to the display library member, the other to the target. Signals are measured to determine the extent of binding. The homogenous assays can be performed while the candidate polypeptide is attached to the display library vehicle, e.g., a bacteriophage.

Automated screening. The methods and compositions provided herein are also suitable for automated screening of diversity libraries for finding clones with likely pairing-compatible variable regions. For example, a display library of Fabs or scFvs can be screened for members that bind to a target molecule. The library can be screened directly or first selected on antigen once or several times. Binders from a first round of screening can be amplified and rescreened, one or more times. Binders from the second or subsequent rounds are individually isolated, e.g., in a multi-well plate. Each individual binder can then be assayed for binding to the target molecule, e.g., using ELISA, a homogenous binding assay, or a protein array. These assays of individual clones can be automated using robotics. Sequences of the selected clones can be determined using robots and oligonucleotide primers that allow to read the variable region sequences of the selected clones. Results of the assay and the sequences can be stored in a computer system and evaluated by eye or by using software, e.g., to identify clones which meet particular parameters (e.g., for binding affinity and/or specificity, and for sequence homology).

e. Forcing Appropriate Pairing of Antibody Variable Regions Via Mutation and Selection

There are instances where antibodies with given variable region sequences, antigen specificity and affinity are available, but where no pairing behavior can be achieved with the existing sequences. Some of the methods mentioned earlier can be applied to solve this, in particular, the screening of a combinatorial panel of variable region pairs to find fortuitously compatible pairs, or the selection of new antibodies that do have the desirable pairing behavior, for example, using competition selection with one of the antibodies of defined specificity. In those instances where this is not a desirable option and the existing antibodies are used, the following methods may be used to create pairing-compatible variable regions for the set of antibodies to be produced as an OLIGOCLONICS® mixture.

First of all the pairing can be biased by using single-chain Fv variants of the antibodies. The provision of a linker between heavy and light chain variable region will increase the chance that the two domains will pair with one another, instead of pairing with unlinked molecules or with other single chain Fv molecules of the same or different specificity present in the same cell. If such molecules are fused to Fc regions and co-expressed in the same host cell, the result is a mixture of scFv-Fc molecules which are paired via the heavy chain Fc region, forming monovalent and bispecific molecules. There is also an alternative solution that does not rely on pairing in the scFv format. With a set of, for example, three given antibodies, an antibody mixture consisting essentially of IgG-formatted molecules can be made by making the variable region genes compatible with one another. First the sequence of the antibody light chains is determined, and the chain that is the most common to the sequence of the two other light chain variable regions, or the closest to its germ line amino acid sequence identified. For the two antibodies that carry the different light chain, a library of heavy chains is created that is diverse in the CDRs including the CDR3 that produces a substantial fraction of the interactions between heavy and light variable region sequences. These heavy chains are combined with the chosen, non-mutated light chain in a format that provides expression and screening, or display and selection capabilities. In such manner, the two remaining antibodies are forced to accept the new light chain, which could affect pairing and affinity; the provision of mutations in the heavy chains and the selection (either separately as scFv or Fab fragments, or as Fab in competition with their original light chain in a method described above for competition selection), will enrich for variants that have corrected a possible deficiency in pairing efficiency and/or affinity loss.

f. Antibodies with Pairing-Compatible Variable Regions from Transgenic Mice

It is possible to produce transgenic animals (e.g., mice) that are capable, upon immunization, of producing a full repertoire of human antibodies in the absence of endogenous immunoglobulin production. Transfer of the human germ-line immunoglobulin gene array in mutant mice that carry a homozygous deletion of the antibody heavy chain joining region (JH) gene and, therefore, do not anymore produce murine antibodies, results in the production of human antibodies upon antigen challenge. See, e.g., Jakobovits et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 90:2551-255 (1993); Jakobovits et al., Nature 362:255-258 (1993). Antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions may be identified from panels of antibodies made in these animals, or from such antibodies and antibodies derived from other methods. It is envisaged that antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions may be identified even more readily in transgenic mice carrying only the heavy or only the light chain locus, and only a single or a limited set of chosen partner chains; in that case immunization would lead to the generation of antibodies which all carry a compatible common chain. Antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are then identified using the methods described herein. The efficiency with which such antibodies can be identified can be further increased by reducing the extent of somatic hypermutation of the partner chain or chains. This can, for example, be done by removing regulatory sequences surrounding the variable regions, or by mutating the variable region codons such that the gene becomes a less likely substrate for the cellular hypermutation machinery, or by harvesting the B-cells earlier after immunizations.

One further approach is to combine the heavy chains of the three antibodies with a repertoire of highly diverse light chains, and screen the pairings, if necessary after selection on antigen, for light chains that maintain functional pairing (and antigen binding) and share a common sequence. This can be readily carried out using automated facilities for high throughput ELISA screening and sequencing, as presented earlier.

g. Uses of Antibodies with Pairing-Compatible Variable Regions

Antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions have many applications. It is disclosed herein that the preparation of a desired functional antibody mixture is feasible when the composition of the variable heavy or light chains of the various antibodies is carefully selected to contain antibody variable regions that carry pairing-compatible variable regions such that the pairing of the antibody variable regions yield predominantly functional binding sites. After selection of antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions as described above, the antibody variable region genes can be cloned into expression vectors that will direct the expression of an antibody of the desired format, e.g., IgG, IgA, IgM. In one embodiment, described is the production of mixtures of antibodies through the co-expression of variable region genes operably linked to constant region genes, in which these variable region genes encode different antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions. Without the selection of appropriately pairing antibodies with pairing-compatible variable region, co-expression would lead to the formation of a mixture of antibodies with many non-functional heavy-light chain combinations. When appropriate pairing-compatible variable regions have been defined, a high level of functional antibody combining sites will arise. In one embodiment, the heavy chain variable region is operably linked to the first domain of the heavy chain constant region, followed by a hinge region, followed by the remaining domains of the heavy chain constant region. The variable region of the light chain on the other hand is operably linked to an appropriate constant domain of the kappa or lambda family.

In certain embodiments, the pairing-compatible variable region is an identical light chain. In that case the co-expression of this light chain and, for example, two different heavy chains derived from antibodies with as pairing-compatible variable region the full light chain, in the same cell will yield a mixture of the two expected bivalent molecules and one bispecific molecule. Similarly, when co-expressing this light chain with more than two heavy chains derived from antibodies that all have functional antigen binding sites when paired to that same light chain, the mixture will contain in a certain fraction each of the bivalent molecules, and a number of bispecific molecules with combinations of all binding sites, e.g., three when three antibody heavy chains are introduced, six when four antibody heavy chains are introduced, ten when five antibody heavy chains are introduced, etc. In this case, the affinity of the monomeric binding sites in these various species is expected to be very similar to the affinity of the original binding sites. In another embodiment, antibodies share a pairing-compatible variable region, but the sequence of this element is different between the two antibodies and, upon swapping, the affinity of one or both of the antibodies may be altered. If such antibodies are used for co-expression, the final antibody mixture will contain antibodies with the original and the altered binding affinity in all of the species that were mentioned above. In some embodiments, such antibodies share a compatible common light chain. In another embodiment, antibodies share a compatible common heavy chain. The expression levels of the individual components can be chosen or can be manipulated to alter the fraction of the species of antibodies containing that component.

2. Protein Mixtures with Optimally Paired Variable Regions

Using the methods described herein, antibodies with a pairing behavior suitable for the preparation of well-defined biopharmaceutical mixtures are obtained. Traditionally before use for human therapy, protein drugs are expressed and purified to homogeneity, consisting of one major molecular species. In some cases, therapy is more efficacious with combinations of proteins or other drugs. Embodiments include methods to make a proteinaceous mixture that will contain at least two major molecular species, composed of at least three variable regions, and such that some variable regions pair to form a functional binding site. The large-scale manufacturing of the proteinaceous mixture is a prerequisite for their clinical use, and a simple purification procedure is an important feature of the development process. The presence of inappropriately paired variable regions would inevitably lead to a more complicated purification procedure. In one embodiment, the genes encoding the components of the two proteinaceous compounds are co-expressed in the same host cell, and the different major molecular species that are present in the mixture and have a functional binding specificity purified using biochemical/biophysical techniques well known in the art. In one embodiment, the method is used to make a mixture of a defined number of antibodies. The major molecular species that comprise one or more different binding specificities could share a minimal proportion of their encoding genetic information (e.g., an Fc region, a common tag, or another shared domain or feature); such shared feature will provide a common mechanism/assay for following the individual compounds in the mixture. In another embodiment, the major molecular species are co-purified due to a similar biophysical/biochemical behavior, or due to a shared domain that mediates co-purification (e.g., an Fc). In another approach, the major molecular species are fused to a subunit of a protein such that they can multimerize with each other (e.g., CH2-0H3 region). Also provided are biopharmaceutical mixtures produced using this method. In some embodiments, the application is the co-expression of antibodies, with the choice of the V-genes and pairing behavior between VH and VL domains such that mainly or only functional binding sites are made, and the purification of the mix can occur via the shared feature, an Fc region. Methods for purification of immunoglobulin are well known in the art, including protein A, protein G and other affinity matrices. Other proteinaceous mixtures that could be envisaged to have paired variable regions are fusion proteins between antibodies or antibody fragments and other molecules, single domain antibodies derived from camel, llama or engineered single domain antibodies from murine or human variable region genes, receptor extracellular domains, peptides, proteins equipped with an engineered binding site, or cytokines. In some embodiments, the proteinaceous compounds share a feature (like by further fusion to an immunoglobulin Fc region; methods well known in the art), such that they can be co-purified using the same procedures. The optimal pairing of the variable regions in the different proteinaceous compounds will also lead to an optimal level of functional binding sites on these compounds, thus minimizing the number of purification steps required to obtain the active component of the protein mixture.

3. Selecting Antigen-Specific Proteinaceous Compounds Using Mixtures of Encoding DNA

In certain embodiments, the proteinaceous compounds are antibodies. Antibodies are identified in collections or pools of genetically diverse antibodies, in which the pairing of the variable genes is optimized in such manner that upon co-expression of at least two antibodies inside the same cell an optimal pairing arises, providing a maximal amount of functional binding sites. In some embodiments, the pairing of all binding sites is optimized due to the use of a shared variable region gene, for example the light chain. The diversity of the other elements in the library will be such that antibodies with high affinity can still be selected. Due to this choice of the genetic make up of the variable regions, the pairing of the antibody variable regions will be such that a very high level of functional binding sites will be present when multiple variable regions forming more then one antibody binding site are contacted with one another, for example, when expressed in the same cell. In one embodiment, first a library or collection of different antibody heavy chain genes is made, and cloned into an eukaryotic cell expression vector. This library is introduced into host cells in such a manner that each host cell will be making multiple different antibody heavy chains. In particular embodiments, “anti-repressor elements” (Kwaks et al., 2003, Nat. Biotechnol. 21:553) are cloned at one or both ends of the antibody heavy chain gene. Such elements confer stable and high level expression of a given transgene as shown in this citation, and herein describe is its use to mediate stable and high level expression for each individual copy of the transgene (see, also below).

In one embodiment, depicted in FIGS. 7 and 8, the variable region or regions with optimized pairing behavior for the other variable regions is or are also genetically encoded in an appropriate expression vector, and introduced into the host cell, either before, during or after the introduction of the other variable region. The expression cassette with the variable regions can also be part of a viral system such that high levels of transfection/infection efficiency can be achieved. In the case that the pool of first variable regions are antibody heavy chains, the second variable region with optimized pairing behavior can be one or more light chains. The host cells which are transfected with both partners of the pairing, e.g., the mix of antibody heavy chains and set of light chains, are expanded and grown under conditions which allow the expression of heavy chains and light chains. In some embodiments, only one light chain is used, as exemplified in FIG. 7. For example, the expansion can occur in tissue culture wells, in such a manner that the tissue culture wells will contain between 10-1000 different originally transfected clones, each of the clones expressing multiple pairings of the antibody variable regions. Antigen-specific antibodies can be retrieved amongst these clones and wells by various methods, for example by ELISA or equivalent test of the antibody mixtures of each well (see, also earlier description of binding assays). If stable transfection is used, with the possibility to select transfected cell lines for stably integrated copies of the antibody encoding DNAs, the relevant antibody or antibodies may be cloned via limiting dilution. Alternatively, the DNA encoding the relevant antibody variable genes can be retrieved by amplifying and sequencing the antibody genes from the cells in the well using methods know in the art. If required, the antibody-heavy chain encoding DNA can be also amplified, recloned for expression in the same system, the DNA amplified and then used to repeat the transfection, expression and screening experiment. With this cycle of transfection and screening, after a few rounds, an antigen-reactive antibodies start dominating the population. At every round, the complexity of the mixture produced by an individual cell can be reduced by reducing the complexity of the DNA introduced into the cell, to eventually become a oligoclonal population. From the transfected wells, the antibody's V-gene can be rescued directly (e.g., via PCR) and further analysis and/or screening in this system, eventually at conditions that provide expression of the monoclonal antibody. Alternatively, the variable regions from reactive wells can be cloned into other systems for rapid screening of the binding specificity of the individual pairs of variable regions, e.g., via bacterial expression of antibody fragments or whole IgG, expression in other hosts, via in vitro display methods, bacteriophage display methods etc.

In certain embodiments, the heavy chains may be secreted by the host cell into the supernatant, where they can be reconstituted into functional antigen binding fragments, by the addition of and pairing with a partner light chain. This can be a small family of related chains, but may be one chain only. In this approach, cells are used that do not prevent secretion of the non-paired heavy chain. This embodiment is depicted in FIG. 8. Drosophila S2 cells have been described that contain a BiP (Binding Protein) homologue, hsc72, that specifically interacts with immunoglobulin heavy chains, but does not prevent their secretion. Alternatively, the heavy chains will need to carry amino acid mutations in such a manner that cells that normally retain heavy chains when they are not paired to light chains, will not mediate retention anymore. For example, mutations can be provided for or, selected within, the major recognition sites for BiP sites which are located in the heavy chain CH1 domain. For example, the CH1 domain can be replaced (e.g., by a CL or CH3 region) as long as the light chain can pair with this form of the molecule (or other variants, see also section on antibody cross-over variants), or mutated to avoid retention by BiP. The results of such variations are that the different heavy chains are secreted by the host cell. The chains are then reconstituted with one or more partner chains carrying the partner variable region(s). Methods to establish this have been extensively reviewed in literature on the biochemical analysis and assembly of antibody molecules. Antigen-reactive variable region pairs can be identified in the same way as described for the other embodiment.

In yet another embodiment, the first partner of the two paired variable regions (such as the heavy chain for an antibody) is anchored onto a eukaryotic cell surface, and the other variable region provided by expression in the same host cell or via reconstitution on the cell-surface. This set-up allows a direct screening for antigen-binding on the host cell surface, for example, via flow cytometry with fluorescently-labeled antigen, or a direct selection, for example, via cell sorting methods.

Methods to identify antigen-reactive antibodies from B-cell populations have been described in the literature and can be applied to these transfection-based systems also. In such described systems, random combinatorial diversity is sampled, and antibody variable gene pairing is also not optimized or biased. Use of such random combinatorial pairs of variable regions does not guarantee that upon production of an antibody mixture, the pairing will be optimal; on the contrary, mispaired variable regions will be a substantial fraction of the produced proteinaceous compounds. This random combinatorial diversity is limited by reducing the diversity of one of the variable region genes. The diversity that is present in the resulting paired repertoire originates mainly from one of the variable regions. For example, it may be one or a small set of light chains. As a consequence, in the iterative process of selecting the antigen-reactive variable regions, only one of the two partners of the pair will need to be identified. It is not necessary to retrieve both the heavy and light chain variable region sequence from the same cell. Another important difference is that multiple antibody genes are introduced and expressed from the same host cell. When using random diversity, such a feature would lead to a multiplication of the diversity and reduction of the quantity of the individual combinations to the extent that detection let alone cloning of the responsible antibody gene combination would become very difficult, if not impossible. Consider the case in which the cell would be making multiple combinations of heavy and light chain pairs, then the chance to retrieve the correct combination of the antibody that mediates antigen reactivity, would be become smaller as the cell is making a higher number of different chains. If the cell were expressing ten different heavy and light chains, the combinatorial diversity generated by this one cell would be a 100 different types of antibody binding sites; only 1/10 of the antibody variable genes amplified from such cell will be the relevant one, thus the chance to be able to clone the correct antibody genes is very low. As a consequence of this reduced combinatorial diversity, there will also be a higher quantity of each of the individual antibodies, which makes a more sensitive detection possible. Thus, the expression of the different antibodies in the same host cell is a desired feature. First as explained above, it is an important feature for the antigen-selection system to find antigen-reactive antibodies when using transfected cell populations. Second, the methods are directed towards the production of mixtures of proteins and more in particular, antibodies or their fragments, which requires optimal pairing of the variable regions, in particular, when producing such mixtures by co-expression in the same host cell. In the method described above, co-transfection of variable region genes inside the same cells leads to the expression of multiple antibodies in the same host cell. The methods are thus useful to select individual antibody variable region pairs that are reactive with a given target epitope, but also to select a mixture of different variable region pairs all reactive with a given target epitope (in the process of the screening, multiple antibody variable region pairs will be selected or identified, but when iterating the process, these antibodies are likely to be eventually mixed and end up in the same host cell). Further if the screening or selection of the mixture is carried out with targets with multiple epitopes, or multiple targets, the mixture can also contain antibodies to multiple epitopes or targets, yet with co-expression-compatible pairing of the variable region genes.

The methods are also suitable for the screening of mixtures of proteins with paired variable regions that have a defined binding specificity (FIG. 9). The genes encoding these compounds are introduced as a mixture into a host cell as above (in FIG. 9 examples is given of ten different antibodies), and individual clones that have integrated some or multiple copies of the genes encoding the various variable regions expanded. In the way described above, applied to antibodies, the supernatants of the resulting cell lines are screened for reactivity towards the various antigens. The levels of each of the individual antibody pairs may vary, and, when the antibody format is the IgG isotype, also the level of the bispecific antibodies resulting from the co-expression may be highly variable. Cells that secrete the mixture comprising the desired composition are identified and used as a stable production host for this mixture. Provided is a method to quickly screen hundreds of mixtures of different antibodies. The optimized pairing of the heavy and light variable regions will secure a high level of functional binding sites in the antibodies present in such mixtures.

4. Antibody-Based Compounds with Paired Variable Regions and Cross-Over or Mutations in the Constant Regions

The pairing of the variable and constant regions of an antibody can be further engineered by crossing-over domains. Antibodies are made by “crossing-over” or swapping or replacing elements within the Fab region of the antibody (or the antibody heavy chain Fd region and the antibody light chain region), and combining the appropriate elements to establish a binding site in the context of an immunoglobulin molecule (examples are given in FIG. 10). In its simplest format, the L chain and H chain Fd region are swapped. A VL-CL-hinge-CH2-CH3 chain is thus paired to a VH-CH1 domain. In a second format, the constant region genes between H and L are swapped. In another form, the CH1 is replaced by a CL. In another form, the VH and VLs are swapped. In another form, one or more of the CDR regions between VH and VL are swapped. The pairing efficiency can be monitored in such cross-over variants, such that suitable combinations of non-cross-over antibodies with cross-over antibodies, or combinations of different cross-over antibodies, can be used to mediate optimal pairing when making mixtures of at least two antibody molecules (with antibody also including here cross-over variants as described above). In another form, the effect of mispairing between different VHs and/or VLs is reduced by linking the VH and VL via a linker to a single-chain Fv variant, which will favor the association between these two domains. Alternatively, the pairing between variable regions can be manipulated by the introduction at the appropriate positions of cysteines which upon pairing of the variable heavy and light variable domains can form a disulphide bridge. Also provided are methods for selecting antibody fragments that will bind antigen in an appropriate cross-over format, by selecting from appropriately formatted libraries, or by screening one or more antigen-binding antibodies for the activity in the cross-over format. Antibodies in which the CH1 domain is not part of the heavy chain may be secreted as free molecules not paired to light chains, allowing alternative approaches for the production of antibodies and new fusion formats. Antibodies in which the variable regions are swapped may be functionally non-equivalent and yield a more diverse, unnatural or different spectrum of antigen-binding or biological activity (the positioning of the heavy and light chain variable regions is expected to not always be completely equivalent). Besides effects of the exchange of the heavy and light chain genes on affinity and/or specificity, the swapping may alter the antibody flexibility and impact the biological behavior. Finally, an antibody binding site with chimeric VH-VL regions (with CDR or FR regions swapped between the two variable domains) may also yield an alternative, possibly larger but structurally non-overlapping set of antibody paratopes.

Second, selective engineering of the constant regions or the interaction of variable regions with constant regions may also affect the pairing behavior of the variable region genes. By modifying the antibody heavy chain constant region, the fraction of functional bispecific antibodies can be increased or decreased. In this approach, antibody heavy chains can be engineered to drive hetero- or homodimerization. This can be done by introducing sterically complementary mutations in the CH3 domain interface, for example, as has been described in the literature for increasing the percentage of functional bispecific antibodies in the mixture of antibodies arising from the co-expression of two heavy and two light chains. The pairing of the antibody binding site variable region may thus be influenced by the pairing of variegated constant regions, of heavy and light constant region domains.

5. Extracellular Pairing of Proteinaceous Mixtures

Provided are methods for making whole antibodies using an in vitro pairing procedure of heavy and light chains produced in different host cells. In one embodiment, one of the two antibody chains is expressed in a first host cell and the other chain is expressed in a second host cell (FIG. 11, section A). The antibody chains are then brought together under conditions in which pairing of the two domains will occur, thus outside of the cell. In one embodiment, the pairing occurs in vitro, with purified chains and under conditions that are optimized for the pairing of the desired variable regions. In another embodiment, the expression occurs via the use of one or two dummy-chains, temporarily paired to the respective variable regions, removing the dummies from their partner via a mild and controllable process, and pairing the appropriate unpaired variable regions to one another to form a functional binding site. In one embodiment applied to antibodies, this association is made easier by using heavy-light chain pairs mutated in one or the other chain to facilitate the process of the pairing, e.g., mutated in the cysteine residue that normally forms the bridge between H and L chains (either both mutated, for example, to Ser, or only one mutated and not the other), or mutations that have altered the affinity of one chain for the other or mutations in the dummy chain used for the temporary pairing, in particular, the one that pairs with the heavy chain; thus such dummy light chain will pair with a native, non-mutated heavy chain, and may carry mutations such that it can be readily removed from the purified antibody.

An extension of this concept is that it is possible to produce antibodies using universal antibody chains (FIG. 11, section B). Provided are methods for expressing a shared, invariant variable region contained into the appropriate chain format (e.g., a VL-CL light chain) in a given host cell, and the other chain (e.g., a heavy chain consisting of VH-CH1 or VH-CH1-hinge-CH2-CH3) that is dominant in or provides most or all of the specificity, in another host cell. For production of two antibodies, three chains need to be made, which can be assembled in vitro to form two different antibodies. For example, if the light chain is identical, only one VL-CL domain will have to be made, and two VH-containing heavy chains. These can then be assembled extracellularly, for example, in vitro. Pairing of the variable regions will have to be optimal such that the proteinaceous mixture yields a high level of functional binding sites. The light chain can be used universally for all antibodies that will accommodate it (and antibodies accordingly selected if required). The heavy chain can be expressed in mammalian cells to provide a suitable glycosylation; for the light chains any suitable expression host cell can be chosen. When using the cross-over variants described in the previous section, in which the light chain is fused to the hinge and Fc, and the heavy chain variable region is provided as the lightest chain (as VH-CH1 or VH-CL), an important advantage of this set-up is apparent: the light chain fused to the Fc (depicted as “constant” chain in FIG. 11, section B), with its functionally important glycosylation features, can be made as the universal chain. The heavy chain can carry the dominant features for the specificity, and a mixture of heavy chains which will mediate different binding specificities can now be made in a different host cell that does not need to provide glycosylation. Such a feature makes the production of mixtures possible in two steps: a cheaper prokaryotic expression can be used to make mixtures of variable regions each encoding a unique binding specificity, while the more expensive production of the other variable region that also requires most fine analysis, can be done in a eukaryotic host. All antibodies that can pair with the latter variable gene without inflicting their overall specificity and affinity, can be produced by extracellular pairing with the same universal chain. The latter can be designed to be optimized for pharmaceutical applications: a broadly expressed, relatively common variable region, with a minimal number of MHC Class II epitopes, of human origin, and germ line in sequence. This procedure of mixing can be done with separate heavy chain mixtures or with a mix of the different heavy chains; when applied to the IgG format as depicted in FIG. 11, section B, the result is an antibody mixture without or with bispecifics, respectively. Manual mixing and pairing of variable region genes further provides much more control over the pairing, it can be done in a stepwise manner, per antibody, per group of antibodies etc. For some applications, for example, where there is an absolute necessity to avoid the formation of bispecific antibodies in a complex mixture with three or more antibodies, this method has an advantage over the cell line-based approach.

6. Controlling the Expression of Variable Regions in the Context of the Production of Multiple Pairing Variable Regions in the Same Host Cell

Nucleic acid molecules encoding variable region, e.g., from antibodies, can be co-expressed in the same cell to make mixtures of different functional binding sites. With appropriate pairing behavior, a high level of functional binding sites will be present. It will however also be important to control the expression of the individual variable regions and their expression ratios, because this will effect the composition of the final antibody mixture. The expression level and the stability of the expression is a function of the site of integration of the transgene: if the transgene is integrated close to or within inaccessible chromatin, it is likely that its expression will be silenced. Described is the use for the production of mixtures of antibodies in the same cell, of elements that, when flanking the antibody genes, will increase the predictability of the expression level, the yield, and improve stability. Such elements can, for example, do this by counteracting chromatin-associated gene repression. Such anti-repressor elements provide a high level of predictability of expression, high levels of expression and stable expression overtime, of the antibody mixture (Kwaks et al., 2003, Nat. Biotechnol. 21:553). Such elements confer stable and high level expression of a given transgene as shown in this citation, and herein described is its use to mediate stable and high level expression for each individual copy of a mixture of transgenes, encoding multiple variable regions. A variety of such elements and other systems to achieve a similar result have been identified in the art, including Locus control regions (LCRs), chromatin opening elements, artificial chromosomes (e.g., ACE technology from Chromos Molecular Systems Ltd.), and Ubiquitous Chromatin Opening Elements. For example, LCRs are transcriptional regulatory elements which possess a dominant chromatin remodeling and transcriptional activating capability conferring full physiological levels of expression on a gene linked in cis, when integrated into the host cell genome. In the following section, “anti-repressor elements” are described but other, different control elements such as the ones mentioned and inasmuch as they provide the opportunity to regulate the high-level expression of multiple genes, may be equally suitable to achieve a controlled expression of the different variable regions.

In one embodiment, antibody mixtures are made from variable region pairs in which one dominates the binding, and the other is a shared variable region. In certain embodiments, the first variable region one is the heavy chain, and the second is the light chain. In certain embodiments, at least one of the antibody heavy chains is flanked by one anti-repressor element, or by two identical or two different anti-repressor elements located at either end of the heavy chain gene; in another embodiment, more than one or possibly all of the heavy chain genes that need to be expressed are flanked by anti-repressor elements. In one embodiment, the heavy chains are based on the same plasmid, in another they are on separate plasmids. In another embodiment, CHO cells are used as host; in another embodiment, PER.C6® cells are used.

The manufacture of mixtures of antibodies expressed in the same cell line will require appropriate variable region pairing and also a stable expression level of all of the antibody chains involved, as well as a stable ratio of the various chains, in such manner that the resulting antibody mixture after manufacture even at GMP conditions, has a stable composition. Such stable compositions can then translate into stable biological activity and stable toxicity profile. If the expression of only one antibody chain would change, it could affect the composition and, therefore, also alter its biological activity. The provision of elements that yield a more predictable and copy-number associated expression level is also important to build cell lines that express similar or even equimolar levels of different antibodies. If, for example, five antibody heavy chains have to be expressed, it will be very difficult to build a cell line that expresses all of these chains at similar quantities when using a random integration and selection approach without the anti-repressor elements. By using such elements, a higher copy number of antibody chains can be introduced without compromising the stability of the resulting cell line. Thus, multiple antibody heavy chains can be introduced, where the number of integrated copies for each heavy chain will also to some level reflect its absolute expression level. With such elements it will be much easier and more rapid to alter the ratios of expression levels between the heavy chains, for example, by manipulating the ratios of the DNAs encoding the heavy chains at the time of the transfection.

This also explains embodiments including incorporation of such anti-repressor elements in vectors to be used for creating antibody libraries and select antigen reactive antibodies from these pools (see, section 4); anti-repressor elements which may be inserted in the expression vectors that incorporate the heavy chain, on FIGS. 7, 8 and 9.

7. Expression Systems for Multiple Variable Regions in the Context of the Production of Multiple Regions in the Same Host Cell

When expressing multiple variable regions inside the same cell, maximal productivity will be achieved only if the partners that need to be paired are co-expressed at an equivalent level, such that there is little chance on what is essentially waste: the non-paired variable region. The composition of the mixture is influenced by manipulating any one of the parameters that affect the expression level achieved in the host cell. The expression level of a given component is a function of many factors including the regulatory sequences that drive the expression of the component, when the component is a heavy chain also the expression levels of the light chains, the choice of the host cell, the method of expression (transient or stable), and, for stable expression, the copy number and site of integration. The expression levels can further be affected by many parameters including choice of the transcriptional regulatory elements (including choice of promoter, enhancer, insulators, anti-repressors, etc.). The expression of the two light and heavy chains of the antibodies that are to be assembled from the mixture of the chains can be done independently for each of the chains, or made dependent from each other.

The expression vector or vectors comprising the antibody genes of interest contain regulatory sequences, including, for example, a promoter, operably linked to the nucleic acid(s) of interest. Large numbers of suitable vectors and promoters are known to those of skill in the art and are commercially available for generating the recombinant constructs herein. Appropriate cloning and expression vectors for use with prokaryotic and eukaryotic hosts are described by Sambrook et al., in Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The following vectors are provided by way of example. Bacterial: pBs, phagescript, PsiX174, pBluescript SK, pBs KS, pNH8a, pNH16a, pNH18a, pNH46a (Stratagene); pTrc99A, pKK223-3, pKK233-3, pDR540, and pRIT5 (Pharmacia). Eukaryotic: pWLneo, pSV2cat, pOG44, PXTI, pSG (Stratagene) pSVK3, pBPV, pMSG, and pSVL (Pharmacia). Promoter regions can be selected from any desired gene using CAT (chloramphenicol transferase) vectors or other vectors with selectable markers. Two appropriate vectors are pKK232-8 and pCM7. Particular bacterial promoters include lacI, lacZ, T3, T7, gpt, lambda P, and trc. Eukaryotic promoters include CMV immediate early, HSV thymidine kinase, Elongation-factor-1α, early and late SV40, LTRs from retrovirus, mouse metallothionein-I, and various art-known tissue-specific promoters. Methods well known to those skilled in the art can be used to construct vectors containing a polynucleotide as described herein and appropriate transcriptional/translational control signals.

Mammalian expression vectors will comprise an origin of replication, a suitable promoter and also any necessary ribosome-binding sites, polyadenylation site, splice donor and acceptor sites, transcriptional termination sequences, and 5′ flanking non-transcribed sequences. Expression regulatory sequences may comprise promoters, enhancers, scaffold-attachment regions, negative regulatory elements, transcriptional initiation sites, regulatory protein binding sites or combinations of the sequences. Alternatively, sequences which affect the structure or stability of the RNA or protein produced may be replaced, removed, added, or otherwise modified by targeting, including polyadenylation signals, mRNA stability elements, splice sites, leader sequences for enhancing or modifying transport or secretion properties of the protein, or other sequences which alter or improve the function or stability of protein or RNA molecules. In addition to the nucleic acid sequence encoding the diversified immunoglobulin domain, the recombinant expression vectors may carry additional sequences, such as sequences that regulate replication of the vector in host cells (e.g., origins of replication) and selectable marker genes. The selectable marker gene facilitates selection of host cells into which the vector has been introduced (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,399,216, 4,634,665 and 5,179,017). For example, typically the selectable marker gene confers resistance to drugs, such as G418, hygromycin or methotrexate, on a host cell into which the vector has been introduced. Examples of selectable marker genes include the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene (for use in dhfr⁻ host cells with methotrexate selection/amplification) and the neo gene (for G418 selection).

In an exemplary system for recombinant expression of a modified antibody, or antigen-binding portion thereof, a recombinant expression vectors encoding at least one antibody heavy or light chain is introduced into dhfr⁻ CHO cells by calcium phosphate-mediated transfection. Within the recombinant expression vector, the antibody heavy or light chain gene is operatively linked to enhancer/promoter regulatory elements (e.g., derived from SV40, CMV, adenovirus and the like, such as a CMV enhancer/AdMLP promoter regulatory element or an SV40 enhancer/AdMLP promoter regulatory element) to drive high levels of transcription of the genes. The recombinant expression vector also carries a DHFR gene, which allows for selection of CHO cells that have been transfected with the vector using methotrexate selection/amplification. The selected transformant host cells are cultured to allow for expression of the antibody heavy or light chains. In many instances the expression vector may contain both heavy and light chain genes, and co-transfection will lead to the production of intact antibody, recovered from the culture medium. Standard molecular biology techniques are used to prepare the recombinant expression vector, transfect the host cells, select for transformants, culture the host cells and recover the antibody from the culture medium. For example, some antibodies can be isolated by affinity chromatography with a Protein A or Protein G.

The host may also be a yeast or other fungi. In yeast, a number of vectors containing constitutive or inducible promoters may be used. For a review, see, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Vol. 2, Ed. Ausubel et al., Greene Publish. Assoc. & Wiley Interscience, Ch. 13 (1988); Grant et al., Expression and Secretion Vectors for Yeast, in Methods in Enzymology, Ed. Wu & Grossman, Acad. Press, N.Y. 153:516-544 (1987); Glover, DNA Cloning, Vol. II, IRL Press, Wash., D.C., Ch. 3 (1986); Bitter, Heterologous Gene Expression in Yeast, in Methods in Enzymology, Eds. Berger & Kimmel, Acad. Press, N.Y. 152:673-684 (1987); and The Molecular Biology of the Yeast Saccharomyces, Eds. Strathern et al., Cold Spring Harbor Press, Vols. I and II (1982). The host may also be a prokaryotic organism, such as E. coli. As a representative but nonlimiting example, useful expression vectors for bacteria can comprise a selectable marker and bacterial origin of replication derived from commercially available plasmids comprising genetic elements of the well known cloning vector pBR322 (ATCC 37017). Such commercial vectors include, for example, pKK223-3 (Pharmacia Fine Chemicals, Uppsala, Sweden) and pGEM1 (Promega, Madison, Wis., USA).

Introduction of the recombinant construct into the host cell can be effected, for example, by calcium phosphate transfection, DEAE, dextran mediated transfection, or electroporation (L. Davis, et al., Basic Methods in Molecular Biology (1986)).

DNA encoding the antibodies is readily isolated and sequenced using conventional procedures for cloning, DNA preparation and sequencing as described by Sambrook, et al., in Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. For sequencing, oligonucleotide probes can be used that are capable of binding specifically to genes encoding the heavy and light chains of antibodies or to the vector sequences surrounding the gene fragments, and the DNA sequence determined by dideoxy-based sequencing (F. Sanger, et al. (1977) PNAS 74:5463-5467). Once isolated, the DNA encoding appropriate regions of the antibody may be placed into expression vectors, which are then transfected into host cells. The host cell can be a higher eukaryotic host cell, such as a mammalian cell, a lower eukaryotic host cell, such as a yeast cell, or the host cell can be a prokaryotic cell, such as a bacterial cell.

In some embodiments, antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions are produced in mammalian cells. Examples of mammalian host cells for expressing the clone antibodies or antigen-binding fragments thereof include Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO cells) (including dhfr⁻ CHO cells, described in G. Urlaub et al. (1980) PNAS 77:4216-4220), used with a DHFR selectable marker, e.g., as described in (R. J. Kaufman et al. (1982) J. Mol. Biol. 159:601-621), lymphocytic cell lines, e.g., NS0 myeloma cells and SP2 cells, C127, 3T3, CHO, human epidermal A431 cells, Jurkat, U937, HL-60, mouse L-cells, Baby Hamster Kidney cells, COS or CV-1 cells, PER.C6® cells (M. G. Pau et al. (2001) Vaccine 19:2716-2721), other transformed primate cell lines, normal diploid cells, cell strains derived from in vitro culture of primary tissue, primary explants, and a cell from a transgenic animal, e.g., a transgenic mammal. For example, the cell is a mammary epithelial cell. Other cell types suitable for expression, in particular, for transient expression, are simian COS cells (Y. Gluzman (1981) Cell 23:175-182), and Human embryonic Kidney cells of lineages 293, 295T and 911 (Hek293, 295T, 911).

Alternatively, it may be possible to produce the antibody as fragment or as whole antibody in lower eukaryotes such as yeast or in prokaryotes such as bacteria (L. C. Simmons et al. (2002) J. Immunol. Methods 263:133-147). Potentially suitable yeast strains include Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyces strains, Candida, or any yeast strain capable of expressing heterologous proteins. Potentially suitable bacterial strains include Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhimurium, or any bacterial strain capable of expressing heterologous proteins. If the full antibody is made in yeast or bacteria as IgG, it may be necessary to modify the protein produced therein, for example, by phosphorylation or glycosylation of the appropriate sites, in order to obtain the functional protein. Such covalent attachments may be accomplished using known chemical or enzymatic methods. Recombinant polypeptides and proteins produced in bacterial culture are usually isolated by initial extraction from cell pellets, followed by one or more salting-out, aqueous ion exchange or size exclusion chromatography steps. In some embodiments, the template nucleic acid also encodes a polypeptide tag, e.g., penta- or hexa-histidine. The recombinant polypeptides encoded by a library of diversity strands can then be purified using affinity chromatography. Microbial cells employed in expression of proteins can be disrupted by any convenient method, including freeze-thaw cycling, sonication, mechanical disruption, or use of cell lysing agents.

Described herein is a method to directly relate the expression of the two partner variable regions that are required to pair in such manner that there is minimal waste (FIG. 12). The nucleic acid molecule encoding the first variable region is cloned into an expression cassette, such that it will be under the control of a given promoter (typically the strong CMV promoter or other), and such that its coding sequence is followed by an Internal Ribosome Entry Site (IRES) and the coding sequence of the transactivator of the tet responsive element (TRE) fused to the activation domain of the herpes simplex VP16 protein (tTa). The nucleic acid molecule encoding the second variable region is cloned into an expression cassette such that its expression is regulated via an inducible promoter, for example, the tet responsive element (TRE), existing of seven copies of the prokaryotic tetracycline operator site fused to a minimal CMV promoter. When introducing both expression cassettes into the same cell (on different vectors or on same vectors, at the same time or one before the other), the following relation between the expression of the two variable regions will exist: expression of the first variable region, which is under control of, for example, a constitutive promoter, will lead to the expression of the tTa protein. This protein activates the TRE-based promoter which will drive the expression of the second variable region. Thus, the production of the second variable region is now dependent on the production of the first variable region. If these regions are required to pair, the production of the individual components of the pairing can be made dependent.

When antibodies of the IgG-type are produced via a heavy and light chain, the production of the light chain can be made dependent on the production of the heavy chain. Consider the embodiment including the production in the same host cell of a mixture of antibodies which all share a pairing-compatible light chain. The light chain gene is cloned under control of the TRE element, while the heavy chains are all provided with the IRES and tTa gene, as described above. In the host cell, every individual heavy chain that is expressed will then trigger the production of more partner light chain. This is important, because with multiple heavy chains being expressed, it is likely that the level of light chain may become limiting, and that the excess of unpaired heavy chain will induce possible toxicity in the host cell (as has been described for B-cells). This concept is also applicable to the embodiment described in section 4, for the selection of antigen-reactive antibodies from pools made in eukaryotic cells. Other promoter-transactivator systems have been described and are applicable in this concept also. In the same application field, in those cases where the ratios of two particular heavy chains need to be controlled or fixed, this method of dependent-expression may be used to link the expression of two heavy chains.

Generally, a large number of suitable vectors and promoters are known to those of skill in the art and are commercially available for generating the recombinant constructs described herein. The following vectors are provided, by way of example, for the expression in eukaryotic cells of two or three antibodies that share a light chain sequence. The antibody chain encoding genes are cloned into expression cassettes that provide all regulatory and secretion signals which are typically used for antibody expression, as depicted in FIG. 20. In a first embodiment, the expression of multiple antibody heavy chains is made dependent on one another in the following way. In the first embodiment, the nucleic acid encoding the first heavy chain (H1) is cloned into an expression cassette, such that it will be under the control of a given promoter (typically the strong CMV promoter or other), and such that its coding sequence is followed by an Internal Ribosome Entry Site (IRES). This is immediately followed by a second antibody heavy chain coding region (H2, as depicted in FIG. 21). The P1 promoter will now drive the expression of H1 and H2, leading to an approximate 1:1 expression ratio between these two proteins; often though the second coding region is slightly less well expressed. Thus, if the expression ratio has to be steered towards a predefined range, the use of IRES sequences is particularly useful. This predefined range is influenced among other factors by the nature of the IRES sequence, and different IRES sequences will mediate different final ratios. Similarly, the expression ratio between three antibody heavy chains can be linked to one another by using a tricistronic expression cassette, in which the previous described cassette is followed by another IRES and Heavy chain coding region. Examples of tricistronic expression systems and of IRES sequences and configurations are described for other systems in the literature (Li et al., J. Virol. Methods 115:137.44; When et al., Cancer Gene Therapy 8:361-70; Burger et al. 1999, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 52:345-53). In these embodiments, the shared antibody light chain can be provided on a separate expression plasmid, on one or more of the vectors that carry on or multiple the antibody heavy chains, or can be already expressed by the host cell used for the transfection with the heavy chain expression vector or vectors.

In another embodiment, antibody heavy genes are sequentially transfected into the host cell. First, the embodiment for libraries of cells that produce mixes of two antibodies are considered. Cells are transfected with the two antibody genes cloned into different vectors but the transfection is done sequentially in time. For example, the antibody heavy and light chain encoding regions of the first antibody are introduced into the host cell, and stable transfectants expressing this antibody identified and isolated. The antibody genes encoding a second antibody, in which the variable regions are pairing-compatible, are transfected into the host cell that already expresses the first antibody genes at high level. This procedure of carrying out sequential transfections (and if appropriate selections of integration in between) is also suitable for making collections of mixture with up to four to five different antibodies. To increase the number of cell clones expressing multiple antibodies, the vectors carrying the genes encoding the antibody genes, also carries a unique selection marker, such that transfected cells that have integrated the vector sequence can be readily selected and antibody expressing clones identified. As an alternative embodiment for making cells that express multiple antibodies with compatible pairing, the following procedure is used. First, as before, cell clone is produced that expresses one set of antibody chains (this can be one H and one L or multiple H and one L, for example) and is selected on the basis of a first selection marker. In parallel, a cell clone is produced that expresses another subset of antibody chains (for example, one or more other H and one L) and that is selected on the basis of a different selection marker (for example, neo, gpt, zeo, bdl, etc.). These cell clones are then fused and selected for the presence of both of the selective markers. Methods for cell fusion are extensively described in the literature and known to those working in the field; they are similar to those described in Norderhaug et al., 2002, Eur. J. Biochem. 269:3205-10. The hybrid cells have the potential to express all of the antibody chains. Similarly, this procedure can be repeated if collections of larger numbers of antibody chains have to be made. Further, the use of cell populations rather than cell clones, in this sequential transfection or cell-fusion approach, provides a method for achieving large collections of cells that express the antibody chains at different ratios.

In one embodiment, the proteinaceous molecule's coding region or regions are flanked by sequences that mediate site-directed integration into the host cell genome (as depicted in FIG. 20). Without these, integration of transgenes occurs at random and, usually, several copies of the transgene are integrated at the same time, sometimes in the form of a head-to-tail tandem, with the site of integration and the number of copies integrated varying from one transfected cell to another. The use of recombination sites as depicted in FIG. 20 allows the precise site of integration to be targeted by homologous recombination between vector and host cell genome. This provides a means to insert the coding region into a site of high transcriptional activity, with the option to provide a promoter in the transgene or use the one that is present at the site of integration. With random or homologous recombination-mediated insertion of the antibody chain encoding nucleic acids is meant any insertion into the genome of the host cell, or into the nucleic acids in a subcellular organel, or into an artificial chromosome.

Some embodiments are to employ (per expression vector used in the library construction) not more than three antibody heavy chain coding regions and may have two per vector. In certain embodiments, some plasmids do not contain more than three promoters and three IRES sequences and not more than six STAR or MAR elements. In some instances, the expression vector's size may be limited to 20 kb and if more than five binding sites are required in the mix, and these cannot be functionally encoded in a plasmid that is less than 20 kb in size, to use two or more different plasmids.

MARs and STARs can be positioned on either side of the DNA sequence to be transcribed. For example, the elements can be positioned about 200 bp to about 1 kb, 5′ from the promoter, and at least about 1 kb to 5 kb from the promoter, at the 3′ end of the gene of interest. In addition, more than one element can be positioned 5′ from the promoter or at the 3′ end of the transgene. For example, two or more elements can be positioned 5′ from the promoter. The element or elements at the 3′ end of the transgene can be positioned at the 3′ end of the gene of interest, or at the 5′ end of a 3′ regulatory sequence, e.g., a 3′ untranslated region (UTR) or a 3′ flanking sequence. Chromatin opening elements can be flanking on both ends of the expression cassette (FIG. 21, row D), or placed 5′ of the expression cassette (FIG. 21, row C). In particular, when multiple regulatory elements such as STAR and UCOs have to be introduced into one and the same plasmids, elements may be used that have activity towards both ends of the element such that they can be provided in the middle of an expression cassette (FIG. 21, row C). Since MARs have also been reported to function when co-transfected in trans with the transgene (Zaln-Zabel et al. (2001) J. Biotechnology 87:29-42), they have the advantage that no DNA-cloning step is required to physically link them to SPCBP expression cassette(s). In that case, size of the MAR element or of the expression vector carrying the SPCBP cassettes is no longer a limitation. Nevertheless, MAR elements as small as 1.3 kb have been described, thus multiple in cis inclusions are feasible. MARs have also been reported to be added both in cis and in trans, and in this configuration increase expression levels of antibodies in CHO cells 14-fold. One other function of these elements—besides their effect on stability—is that they will also increase the number of independently transformed cells that express the protein and promotes higher amounts of the recombinant protein. Clone isolation and production levels are overall higher, thus these elements may be used for making large collections of cell lines producing compositions comprising multiple functional binding sites.

8. Proteinaceous Mixtures with Multiple Effector Regions and Multiple Types of Binding Sites

The methods can be used to create compositions of proteinaceous molecules that have multiple effector regions. In the case of antibodies, compositions are included that display one or more antigen binding regions in combination with two or more natural effector regions. Examples are the effector regions encoded by IgG1 and IgG4, which have, for example, different binding regions for C1q and the various Fc-receptors based within their encoding constant regions. Such mixtures may be clinically more effective than their mono-effector compounds: the mixture combines multiple and maximal natural effectors, which for various reasons are never present in the one natural antibody isotype, and the mixture thus mimics much more closely the natural pleiotropy of immune effectors that a single antigen/pathogen will evoke when our immune system encounters it. Some formats are IgG1 and IgG4, or IgG and IgM, or IgG1 and Fab, or IgG and IgA, or IgA and IgM, or IgG1-cytokine fusion and alike. Instead of making such proteins in different hosts, the co-expression of such different antibody formats, all associated with the same binding site (or possibly multiple binding sites but related to one target and, for example, to one disease or indication), allows the direct production of cocktails of antibodies with different effectors. Such mixtures are more efficacious in their biological activity.

Besides antibodies, recent protein engineering techniques have allowed the production of binding sites with predetermined specificity using similar but also sometimes using very different structures. For example, antigen-specific ligands have been created using phage, bacterial, ribosomal or yeast display methods, from libraries of protein variants, in which the protein at some positions was variegated using random or oligonucleotide-based mutagenesis, but the main scaffold of the native protein maintained in the variants. Proteins for which has been already applied include the protein Z domain of Protein A, a variety of Kunitz domains, lipocalins, Green Fluorescent protein, one of the fibronectin domains, other domains of the immunoglobulin superfamily, and ankryns. Such antibody mimics are thus proteinaceous molecules with a non-natural binding activity, obtained, for example, by engineering into the molecule one or more residues or regions with variegated sequences, at either defined or random positions, and identifying the molecule with appropriate antigen binding properties by screening or selection processes. Examples of the processes are high-throughput screening for antigen binding by ELISA, or selection methods described in the literature such as in vitro display methods such as ribosome and puromycin display, cellular or viral display methods such as filamentous phage, lambda phage, bacterial, yeast, or eukaryotic cell display. The resulting proteinaceous molecules with the new binding site is an antibody mimic in the sense that it will contain a binding region for antigen at the position where it was initially a variable region, similar to an antibody molecule with two variable regions.

9. Making Compositions of Multiple Proteinaceous Compounds with Different Binding Specificities.

Recombinant DNA technology provides methods well known in the art to clone the variable region genes, and produce cell lines expressing the recombinant form of the antibody. In particular, the properties of antibodies are being exploited in order to design agents that bind to human target molecules, so-called “self-antigens,” and to antigens of viral or bacterial diseases. For example, a number of monospecific antibodies have been approved as human therapeutics. These include Orthoclone OKT3, which targets CD3 antigen; ReoPro, which targets glycoprotein IIb/IIIa; Rituxan, which targets CD20; Zenapax and Simulect, which target interleukin-2 receptors; Herceptin, which targets the HER2-receptor; Remicade and Humira, which target tumor necrosis factor; Synagis, which targets the F protein of respiratory syncytial virus; Mylotarg, which targets CD33; and Campath, which targets CD52.

For many clinical applications the efficacy of the treatment would increase if combinations of monoclonal antibodies are used. An oligoclonal preparation can be made by mixing individual recombinant antibodies which each have been made by conventional procedures, which includes the expression and purification of the individual recombinant or hybridoma-derived monoclonal antibodies, and the subsequent mixing of these molecules. The pharmaceutical development of separately produced and then mixed monoclonal antibodies is inhibitively expensive. Recombinant monoclonal antibodies of the IgG isotype are commonly made by co-expression of the nucleic acid sequences encoding the heavy and light chain of the antibody in the same host cell, yielding a monoclonal antibody, bearing two identical binding sites. The production of several antibodies from individual cell lines each making one antibody (and in which each cell line is controlled for stability of expression and consistency), is not economical with present biotechnological production methods.

One approach to combining monoclonals is to combine the binding sites in one molecule, hence creating a multispecific antibody. This allows the targeting of multiple epitopes on the same antigen, or of multiple antigens on the same target entity (e.g., a cell, a virus, a bacteria, an antigen), or of epitopes on different entities, providing a bridge between these entities. Of the multispecific antibodies, bispecific antibodies have been investigated the most, for targeting therapeutic or diagnostic entities to tumor cells, e.g., a cytotoxic T-cell, an NK cell, a chelator that carries a radionuclide. But in the bispecific antibody the two binding sites are always covalently coupled to one another, which limits the flexibility and use of such compounds. Further, many of the recombinant bispecific antibodies (e.g., Fab-scFv fusions, diabodies, double-single-chain Fvs) lack the provision of the antibody's Fc region. Since Fc-dependent effector mechanisms such as ADCC are important for the efficacy of many antibodies (e.g., Rituxan and Herceptin), it will be important to maintain this region in the multispecific molecule.

An alternative approach is to use polyclonal antibodies comprising the entire immune response of a host to an immunogen. Polyclonals derived from the pooled serum from immunized animals or from selected humans have been used therapeutically e.g., for passive or active immunization, e.g., anti-rhesus D, anti-digoxin, anti-rabies, anti-snake venom polyclonals, and in some instances, work more effectively than a comparable monoclonal, e.g., Sangstat's rabbit polyclonal against thymocytes versus SIMULECT®. Drawbacks for the use of polyclonal antibodies are the risk of infectious agents (viruses, prions, bacteria) in these often pooled preparations, but also the variability in efficacy, the limited availability, the immune response directed to the preparation if the polyclonal is non-human, and the abundance of non-relevant antibodies in these preparations. Polyclonals have also been made using recombinant methods, but again, the production of large arrays of antibodies from individual cell lines each making one antibody, is not economical with present biotechnological production methods. The production of the polyclonal antibody mixture by cultivating the many different cell lines in batch would be even more affected by differences in stability, growth and production rate, differences in purification yield, etc.

Provided are methods for producing mixtures of antibodies, for example, by expression from a single host cell, using antibodies with variable regions that appropriately pair with one another to yield essentially solely functional binding site combinations. The methods to obtain such antibodies were described herein earlier. The resulting variable regions can thus be co-expressed in biotechnologically viable and simple procedure, and a mixture of antibodies isolated using methods known in the art.

After selection of antibodies with the appropriate pairing behavior (such as antibodies with pairing-compatible variable regions, co-expression-compatible elements, etc., as described above), the antibody variable region genes are cloned into expression vectors that will direct the expression of an antigen binding fragment in, for example, the following format: Fab, Fab′, Fab′2, IgG, IgM. In many instances the use of antibodies with, for example, pairing-compatible variable regions simplifies the DNA constructs that mediate the expression of the particular antibody format. For example, for the expression of two different antibodies as Fab′2 fragments in which one of the two antibody chains is the pairing-compatible variable region, only three antibody chains instead of the normal four have to be expressed to form two different binding sites. Such simplified expression constructs can lead to a more stable and more readily controlled expression system, and increase functional yields by minimizing problems associated with mispairing of heavy and light chain domains.

The mixture may contain a given selection of antibodies, recognizing epitopes on the same or different targets; examples are given below. A new application is the use of mixture containing antibodies specific for complexes formed by another antibody bound to a given target. Both of the antibodies can be provided in the mixture, providing a first antibody to bind the antigen, and a second one to “seal” the first interaction, providing the antibody mixture with an increase in overall affinity and specificity. Another embodiment is to use asymmetrically paired antibody molecules in the mixture such that the effector functions of the resulting mix are altered. The purpose of such mixing is to alter the properties of the effector mechanism of the individual antibodies in the mixture, in an antigen-specific/binding site directed manner, for example, the monospecific antibodies may each have a different effector from the bispecific components present in the mixture. Consider the next example, a mixture of two antibody binding sites formatted as OLIGOCLONICS® in the IgG-format, composed of the heavy chain gamma-1 heavy chain for one antibody variable region and the gamma-4 heavy chain for the other antibody variable region. The OLIGOCLONICS® mixture will contain the two monospecific antibodies, which will be either an IgG1 or an IgG4 isotype and display their respective effector functions, and also a hybrid dimer of gamma-1 and gamma-4, with altered or lost effector functions. Since many Fc receptors bind in an asymmetric manner to the symmetrically arranged Fc region, asymmetric Fc regions often will loose interactions with Fc receptors and thus ADCC or other activity. Mutants of Fc regions with, for example, mutations in the Fcgamma-Receptor motif (residues 233-238 in the CH2-lower hinge region), or mutants with reduced C1q binding, or mutants with exchanged or shortened hinge, or with domains exchanged by other domains of the immunoglobulin heavy chain family, or Fc regions optimized for their interaction with particular Fc regions (e.g., improved binding to the activating receptor FcgammaRIII and/or decreased binding to the inhibitory receptor FcgammaRIIb), can also be used for the assembly of such asymmetric Fc regions. Applications of such asymmetric pairs are provided in a mixture of one compound but not others with a particular effector function, or to remove an effector, for example, in the bispecific or monospecific compounds.

10. Examples of Uses of Compositions of Multiple Proteinaceous Compounds with Different Binding Specificities

There are applications for mixtures of different binding sites on the same antigen, for mixtures of different binding sites on different antigens, for mixtures of different binding sites on different antigens on the same or different target. As an example of use of a mixture in the treatment of a viral disease, the example of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is discussed. Recombinant HBV vaccines provide a safe and effective means for prevention of HBV conferring long-term immunity through active immunization. In contrast to the slow onset of protection following this vaccination, passive immunotherapy with antibodies to HBV provides immediate but short-term protection against viral transmission and infection. Antibodies are believed to inhibit infection by blocking HBV from entering into cells. Such passive immunotherapy is advisable for individuals who were exposed to HBV-positive material (needle or cut injuries) and for newborns to mothers who are HBV carriers, for patients undergoing liver transplantation. At present, such treatment is carried out with hepatitis B immunoglobulin, a plasma derived, polyclonal antibody preparation obtained from donors who were anti-hepatitis B surface antigen antibody-positive. The availability of this serum is limited and further pricing and safety concerns regarding the use of blood products, make the development of an alternative treatment necessary. A human monoclonal antibody would be advantageous by presenting a stable and reproducible source for prolonged immunotherapy. However, studies show that a monoclonal antibody directed to the S antigen and neutralizing capacity against HBV in chimpanzees delayed but not prevented the infection with HBV. In part this may be caused by the emergence of escape variants, mutants in the S-antigen that can no longer be bound by the monoclonal antibody. Similarly, escape mutants arise in patients after liver transplantation in clinical trials with monoclonal antibodies. Therefore, treatment with a single monoclonal antibody may be inefficacious and insufficient. Follow-up studies have involved mixtures of human monoclonal antibodies. Studies carried out by XTL Biopharmaceuticals and colleagues show that a mixture of two antibodies is more effective in reducing viral load and inhibiting HBV infection in animal model systems than a polyclonal mixture. This indicates that the potency of a poly clonal humoral immune response can be deconvoluted to a few antibodies, and that a defined mixture of a few antibodies should work as well or better than some polyclonal preparations. A mixture of two antibodies recognizing different epitopes on the viral surface was thus shown to be more effective in the prevention of HBV reinfection.

In another example of use of a mixture of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of a viral disease, the example of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus type-1 (HIV-1) is discussed. Infection with HIV-1 leads to the development of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if left untreated. During infection with HIV-1, neutralizing antibodies that are directed against diverse epitopes on the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein molecules gp41 and gp120 develop. In a clinical trial published in 1992, the administration of HIV-1 seropositive plasma containing high titers of HIV-neutralizing antibodies, was associated with a reduction in HIV-1 viremia and a number of opportunistic infections. Several groups have subsequently published that administration of HIV-1 seropositive plasma results in delay of the first AIDS-defining event and improvement of clinical symptoms. However, enthusiasm for passive immunotherapy declined when it was found that antibodies failed to eliminate the virus and resulted in the emergence of neutralization escape variants in patients. It was demonstrated that the antibodies that are induced during natural HIV-1 infection poorly neutralize the virus, resulting in a low potency of hyperimmune sera used for passive immunotherapy of HIV-1 infection. In addition, it was demonstrated that some antibodies that arise during natural infection can even enhance the infection. It was realized that for antibody therapy of HIV-1, potent and well-characterized neutralizing monoclonal antibodies were needed.

These early findings spurred the development of human monoclonal antibodies against HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins. In recent years, a number of human monoclonal antibodies against the HIV-1 gp41 and gp120 viral coat glycoproteins have been isolated and characterized for their virus-neutralizing activity in vitro. Subsequent experiments in non-human primate models of HIV infection and transmission have shown that human monoclonal antibodies targeting different HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein epitopes exhibit strong synergy when used in combination. It has been suggested that combinations of human anti-HIV monoclonal antibodies can be exploited clinically for passive immunoprophylaxis against HIV-1.

A third example relates to the rabies field. Rabies is an acute, neurological disease caused by the infection of the central nervous system with rabies virus, a member of the Lyssavirus genus of the family of Rhabdoviridae. Almost invariably fatal once clinical symptoms appear, rabies virus continues to be an important threat to human and veterinary infection because of the extensive reservoirs in diverse species of wildlife. Throughout the world, distinct variants of rabies virus are endemic, in particular, terrestrial animal species, with relatively little in common between them. Rabies virus is characteristically bullet-shaped, enveloped virion of single-stranded-negative sense RNA genome and five structural proteins. Of these, a suitable target for neutralization is the viral glycoprotein (G). Antigenic determinants on G vary substantially among the rabies virus strains. Prompt treatment after infection consists of passive and active immunotherapy. For passive immunotherapy mostly pooled serum of rabies immune individuals or immunized horses is used, but with a risk of contamination with known or unknown human pathogens, or the risk of anaphylactic reactions, respectively. In addition, anti-rabies immunoglobulin is expensive and may be either in short supply or non-existent in most developing countries where canine rabies is endemic. There is, therefore, a need for compositions and methods for producing mixes of antibodies, for example human antibodies, to use in passive immunotherapy of rabies infections. A number of human monoclonal antibodies made by fusion of Epstein-Barr Virus transformed, rabies-virus-specific human heterohybridomas have been made (Champion et al., J. Immunol. Methods (2000) 235:81-90). A number of virus-neutralizing antibodies derived from these antibodies have also been cloned (PCT/IS02/26584 and PCR/US01/14468 and Morimoto et al. (2001), J. Immunol. Methods 252:199-206). Several other rabies-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies have been described in the art, which could also be used in the experiments below. As indicated in these publications, a mix of different rabies-neutralizing human antibodies would be an ideal reagent for passive immunotherapy of rabies.

In general for viral diseases, the functional assembly of mixes of anti-viral antibodies may increase the clinical efficacy of the treatment when compared to monoclonal therapy, by decreasing the probability of viral escape mutants resistant to treatment, and by reducing the likelihood of viral resistance with prolonged therapy. In the mixture, antibodies may be included that bind to many different epitopes of the virus. It may also be feasible to include antibodies to different subtypes of the virus, to broaden the utility of the drug for a wider patient population. Further anti-viral antibodies directed to linear epitopes may be added, which may be less prone to the effect of escape mutants than conformation-dependent antibodies. The effect of multiple binding specificities present in the antibody mix can provide a stronger signal for viral clearance than when a monoclonal antibody is used. There are also applications for mixtures of essentially one binding site with different fine-specificities for binding its antigen. For example, when the antigen is prone to mutation as is the case with many viral antigens, in the course of a treatment the epitope on the antigen may be altered such that the binding of the original antibody is lost. When using a mixture, e.g., based on the same heavy chain paired with a small set of light chains that provide a range of fine-specificities, there is a possibility that the mutations will affect the binding of some species in the mixture, but not of others with a different binding chemistry mediated by the pairing-compatible variable region. In such a case, distinct binding chemistries for the interaction with the antigen may be used, thus the pairing-compatible variable regions should be as unrelated as possible in sequence. Alternatively, antibodies can be used that use very different binding site chemistries by having unrelated heavy and light chain variable regions, but display exclusively pairing behavior such that their production in the same cell yields mainly functional binding sites. Such mixtures are may be more active than the individual components, and in some case will act synergistically.

In the OLIGOCLONICS® format, antibodies of the IgG isotype are made by co-expression of the light and heavy chain genes with appropriate pairing behavior in the same host cell. The result of this process is a mixture of different proteins, the monospecific bivalent antibodies which carry two identical binding sites, and bispecific antibodies, carrying two different binding sites. There will be occasions where the presence of this bispecific antibody class will further enhance the efficacy of the antibody mixture. Only when there are multiple epitopes present on the antigen or microorganism, and these epitopes are presented in the correct positioning, will a monoclonal antibody of the IgG isotype, for example, be able to bind both of its binding Fab-arms to the antigen. In many instances where the antigen is a monomer or a small multimer, like cytokines, interleukins and interferons, mostly only one arm of a monoclonal IgG antibody will be binding the antigen. The bispecific component of the OLIGOCLONICS®, provides a new opportunity to bridge neighboring epitopes, and form a highly avid binding antibody. Pairs that have this behavior may be selected using the methodologies of screening mixtures of antibodies as disclosed herein. Besides this avidity advantage, bispecific molecules may also cross-link receptors that mono-specific yet bivalent antibodies in the same mixture cannot cross-link. OLIGOCLONICS® may thus provide an antibody mixture that per unit of mass will more effectively neutralize viruses, cytokines, toxins etc when compared to monoclonal antibodies, and in specific cases, for example, with an avidly binding bispecific component or receptor-cross-linking or other unique mechanism mediated by the bispecific antibody, also compared to mixtures of monoclonal antibodies. The bispecific compounds are also useful to explore routes traditionally developed with bispecific antibodies, such as the retargeting of immune effector molecules or cells such as T-cells, complement proteins and Fc-receptor expressing cells to tumor cells or pathogens.

Thus, mixtures of antibodies may be suitable to fight pathogens including viruses like HIV and rabies, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Other examples where a polyclonal serum or gammaglobulin is currently used that could be replaced with a defined antibody mixture, include such diseases as rabies, hepatitis, varicella-zoster virus, herpes or rubella. Bacterial diseases that could be treated with antibody mixtures include Meningitis, diseases caused by Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Hemophilus, Nesseria, Pseudomonas and the actinomycetes. Targets may also include those involved in bacterial sepsis such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lipid A, tumor necrosis factor alpha or LPS-binding proteins. Some of these pathogens occur in multiple serotypes and not one but multiple antibodies are required to neutralize the various serotypes. A mixture of antibodies will provide, by the choice of the binding specificities, a wider coverage of serotypes that may be treated and, therefore, more patients can be treated with the same antibody mixture. The mixtures for this and other reason can form also suitable diagnostics and part of diagnostic kits for the detection of a disease or disorder in patient.

Mixtures of antibodies may be more effective than monoclonal antibodies also in the treatment of oncological diseases such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and epithelial cell tumors like breast and colon carcinoma. Targeting both CD20 and CD22 on NHL with antibodies has already been proven to be more effective than targeting the tumor cells with the individual antibodies. Suitable target antigens for antibody mixtures in oncological diseases are many, including CD19, CD20, CD22, CD25 (IL-2 receptor), CD33, the IL-4 receptor, EGF-receptor, mutant EGF receptor, Carcino-Embryonic Antigen, Prostate-specificAntigen, ErbB2IHER2, Lewis^(y) carbohydrate, Mesothelin, Mucin-1, the transferrin receptor, Prostate-specificMembrane Antigen, VEGF and receptors, EpCAM and CTLA-4. Synergistic effects may be seen when using antibodies that bind different targets and pathways in the disease, such as antibodies with anti-angiogenesis and anti-proliferative effects. There are also applications in this field for a mixture of essentially one binding site with different affinities for binding its antigen. For example, the efficiency of in vivo solid tumor penetration is limited for high affinity antibodies due to the binding site barrier, yet a minimal affinity is required to achieve a substantial accumulation in the tumor. With the methods described in this document, a mixture of antibodies can be established, e.g., based on the same heavy chain paired with a small set of light chains yet appropriate pairing behavior that provide a range of affinities when paired with the heavy chain. Such mixtures can be used to increase the accumulation in the tumor, and the best balanced cocktail found by choosing the components and their expression levels. Such mixtures may be more active than the individual components, and may act synergistically.

Mixtures of antibodies may also be suitable to neutralize multiple different targets, for example, in the field of inflammatory diseases, where multiple factors are involved one way or another in mediating the disease or aggravating its symptoms. Examples of these diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, insulin-dependent diabetes, mellitus and psoriasis. Optimal treatment of many of these diseases involves the neutralization or inhibition of circulating pathological agents and/or those on the surface on cells targeted in the specific inflammatory response in the patient. In autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases suitable targets are generally interferons, cytokines, interleukins, chemokines and specific markers on cells of the immune system, and, in particular, alpha interferon, alpha interferon receptor, gamma interferon, gamma interferon receptor, tumor necrosis factor alpha, tumor necrosis factor receptor, HLA-class II antigen receptor, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-1beta receptor, interleukin-6, interleukin-6 receptor, interleukin-15, interleukin-15 receptor, IgE or its receptor, CD4, CD2, and ICAM-1.

Mixtures are also suitable for the neutralization of effects mediated by agents of biological warfare, including toxins such as Clostridium botulinum-derived botulinum neurotoxin, anthrax, smallpox, hemorrhagic fever viruses, and the plague. The neutralization of the botulinum toxins is discussed here as an example. The botulinum toxins, the most poisonous substances known, cause the paralytic human disease botulism and are one of the high-risk threat agents of bioterrorism. Toxin-neutralizing antibody can be used for pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis or for treatment. Small quantities of both equine antitoxin and human botulinum immune globulin exist and are currently used to treat adult and infant botulism. Recombinant monoclonal antibody could provide an unlimited supply of antitoxin free of infectious disease risk and not requiring human donors for plasmapheresis. A panel of human and murine monoclonal antibodies was generated from the B lymphocytes of hyperimmune donors and immunized mice using phage antibody display technology. Single monoclonal antibodies and combinations were tested for their capacity to protect mice from lethal doses of neurotoxin (A. Nowakowski et al. (2002) PNAS 99:11346-11350). Whereas single monoclonal antibodies showed no significant protection of the mice against lethal doses of toxin, combinations of only three monoclonal antibodies against different epitopes on the toxin gave very potent protection. The combination of three monoclonal antibodies neutralized 450,000 lethal doses of botulinum toxin, a potency 90 times greater then human hyperimmune globulin. Importantly, the potency of the monoclonal antibody mixture was primarily due to a large increase in functional antibody-binding affinity. Thus, methods that allow the cost-effective, controlled and efficient production of mixtures of monoclonal antibodies against botulinum neurotoxin provide a route to the treatment and prevention of botulism and other pathogens and biologic threat agents. As shown in this study, a mix of three antibodies that bound non-overlapping epitopes on botulinum neurotoxin, had a synergistic effect on toxin neutralization due to a increased overall avidity.

Mixtures of antibodies may be further applied to delay the onset of anti-idiotype responses in patients, by providing multiple idiotypes of an antibody family, all binding to the same target, in the simplest form amino acid mutants of the same antibody with a resulting similar binding specificity and affinity, to a more complex mixture of multiple antibodies directed to the same epitope.

Mixtures of antibodies can also be applied to develop derivatives of the protein mixtures, including immunotoxins, immunoliposomes, radio-isotope labeled versions, immunoconjugates, antibody-enzyme conjugates for prodrug-therapy (ADEPT), and immunopolymers (Allen, (2002) Nat. Rev. Cancer 2:750-783). The mixes of the antibodies can either be modified in batch with the appropriate substances, or may be genetically fused to a toxin or enzyme encoding gene as described in the art for monoclonal antibodies.

Having generally described the embodiments, the same will be more readily understood by reference to the following examples, which are provided by way of illustration and are not intended as limiting.

EXAMPLES Example 1. Description of the Hybridoma-Derived Anti-Rabies Antibodies Used in the Studies

This Example describes a number of rabies-neutralizing antibodies that are used in the further examples. The following antibodies are virus-neutralizing human antibodies: (1) JB.1 (abbreviated to JB in the next section), described in Champion et al., J. Immunol. Methods (2000) 235:81-90, and the cloning and sequence in PCT/IS02/26584; (2) JA-3.3A5 (abbreviated to JA in the next section), described in Champion et al., J. Immunol. Methods (2000) 235:81-90, the cloning in Morimoto et al. (2001), J. Immunol. Methods 252:199-206 and also in PCT/US01/14468; (3) M57, antibody and its cloning were described in Cheung et al. (1992), J. Virol. 66:6714-6720, and further in PCT/IS02/26584. The nucleotide sequences of the full heavy and light chain nucleotide sequences and also amino acid sequences of their variable regions are disclosed in the sequence listings (SEQ ID NOS:103-114 of the incorporated Sequence Listing). On the basis of the data in the literature these antibodies all neutralize a variety or rabies isolates, but not all the same, providing a broader spectrum of neutralized isolates than when using a monoclonal.

Example 2. Production of Mixtures of scFv Antibody Fragments Based on Recloned Hybridoma-Derived Anti-Rabies Antibodies and Co-Expression

This Example describes the production of a mixture of three binding sites as three proteins. Using as a template, the variable region genes of the three antibodies described in Example 1, cloning is used to construct three single-chain Fv expression cassettes, one for each of the antibodies, and to clone these in an appropriate expression vector.

First, the variable region genes are amplified with oligonucleotides that hybridize to the 5′ and 3′ ends of the nucleotide sequences and provide appropriate restriction enzyme sites for cloning. Standard cloning techniques are described in Sambrook et al., Molecular cloning, second edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1987). Cloned variable regions genes are amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using methods well known in the art. For antibody JA, the following procedure is used: primers are designed in the FR1 region and in the FR4 region of the variable heavy chain nucleotide sequence, such that the variable region is cloned downstream of a bacterial leader sequence and upstream of a continuation of the reading frame with a Gly-Ser encoding sequence. The polylinker into which the variable region heavy and light chains are cloned is indicated in FIG. 13. The primers are designed to maintain the amino-terminal sequence of the FR1 and FR4 regions, and to include a unique restriction enzyme site for cloning of the variable region into the polylinker region of pSCFV (FIG. 13). pSCFV is a pUC119 derivate which is essentially pHEN 1 (Hoogenboom et al. (1991) Nucl. Acids Res. 19:4133-4137) into which the SfiI-NotI fragment is replaced with the SfiI-NotI sequence depicted in FIG. 13, and in which the NotI site is followed by a c-myc tag, for detection and purification of the antibody fragment. Also the geneIII of filamentous phage is deleted in this plasmid. Several options for directional cloning are feasible, indicated by the restriction sites locations on the polylinker map on FIG. 13. For the VH of JA, the following oligonucleotides are used to amplify the VH regions: 5′-GTC CTC GCA ACT GCG GCC CAG CCG GCC ATG GCA GAG GTG CAG CTG TTG GAG TCT GGG GG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:120) and the reverse complement of 5′-ACC CGG GTC ACC GTC TCC TCC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:121). The PCR reaction is carried out with the template antibody gene which was already cloned, plasmid SPBN-H (Morimoto et al. (2001), J. Immunol. Methods 252:199-206), for 25 cycles, denaturation at 94° C. for 30 seconds, annealing at 50° C. for 60 seconds, and elongation at 72° C. for 90 seconds, using Taq DNA polymerase (Promega, Madison, Wis.). The resulting product of approximately 400 bp is purified, digested with the restriction enzymes SfiI and BstEII, and cloned into pSCFV, resulting in pJA-VH. Similarly, the light chain of JA is amplified from pSPBN-L with appropriately designed oligonucleotides and is cloned into pJA-VH, to yield pSCFV-JA. The integrity of the sequences is confirmed by using the AmpliTaqs cycle sequencing kit (Perkin-Elmer, Foster City, US) with specific primers based in the vector backbone just adjacent to the variable region inserts. Similarly, the antibody variable regions from hybridomas JB and M57 are cloned into the single-chain Fv format.

The expression of the individual antibody fragments is done as follows. Soluble scFv fragments are expressed upon induction with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) from the lacZ promoter that drives the expression of the scFv in pSCFV-based plasmids, and harvested from the periplasmic space of E. coli TG1 cells. To confirm binding of the individual scFvs, an ELISA is performed using Polysorb plates (Nunc) coated with 5 micrograms/ml of rabies virus glycoprotein. Virus purification and glycoprotein purification have been described elsewhere (Dietzschold et al. (1996) Laboratory Techniques in Rabies, Eds Meslin, Kaplan and Korpowski), World Health Organization, Geneva, p. 175). Alternatively, a source of recombinant Rabies Glycoprotein (G) of the appropriate type is used for the coating. The sequence of rabies G is available to the person skilled in the art and so are cloning, expression and purification techniques.

In the next step, the scFv expression cassettes are cloned one after another in plasmid pSCFV-3 (depicted in FIG. 14A), which is a derivative of pSCFV carrying unique restriction sites for cloning scFv genes, two behind the same lacZ promoter and separated via a new ribosome-binding site (rbs) and signal sequence (S), and one behind an arabinose-inducible promoter, rbs and S (FIG. 14A). It also carries different tags, one for each of the scFv cassettes, c-myc (as in pSCFV; sequence EQKLISEEDL (SEQ ID NO: 122)), the VSV-tag (the sequence YTDIEMNRLGK (SEQ ID NO:123)) and the influenza Hemagglutinin (HA)-tag (the sequence YPYDVPDYA (SEQ ID NO:124)), and all followed by a stretch of three alanines and five histidines. This set-up provides a method for detection of the individual antibodies in the mix, and a generic method for purification, based on immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) using methods well known in the art. The plasmid is also used in Example 17 (with restriction inserts and cloning sites described in SEQ ID NOS: 118 and 119). The scFv genes are amplified with oligonucleotides that introduce the appropriate sites, and cloned into this plasmid. The finally resulting plasmid, pSCFV-JA-JB-M57 (FIG. 14B) is introduced into E. coli host TG1 cell, and expression of the scFvs induced with IPTG (for JA and JB) and/or arabinose (M57). By induction with IPTG, the expression of a mixture of two functional scFv fragments is achieved, in which the direct linkage favors the pairing between the intramolecularly linked variable regions. By further induction with arabinose, an additional scFv fragment is co-expressed. Alternatively, the three scFv expression cassettes are cloned in separate plasmids into compatible plasmids such as pBR322 and pACYC and maintained in the same host cell before induction. The binding of the mixture to rabies glycoprotein (G) is tested as before using ELISA. The contribution to the binding in the mix of each of the scFv fragments is confirmed using one of three anti-tag antibodies (the mouse monoclonal antibody 9E10 binding to human c-Myc epitope tag (product code from abcam, www.abcam.com: ab32), and polyclonal antibodies to the HA-tag (ab3413) or VSV-tag (ab3556). To verify whether the production is carried out by one bacterium and its progeny and not by three clones that each produce one of the antibody fragments, the culture is colony-purified after four hours in the induction phase and the production tested of three independent clones, confirming that the expression is clonal. To determine the percentage of correctly paired variable regions, the scFv mixture is first purified from the E. coli periplasmic extract using IMAC. Briefly, an IPTG and arabinose-induced 500 ml culture (kept for four hours at 30° C.), is spun at 4600×g for 20 minutes at 4° C., and the bacterial pellet resuspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing protease inhibitors (phenyl-methyl-sulfonyl fluoride and benzamidin). The solution is sonicated at 24° C. using an ultrasonic desintegrator (MSE Scientific Instruments), and the suspension centrifuged at 50,000×g for 30 minutes at 4° C. The supernatant fraction is incubated with TALON™ resin according to the instructions of the manufacturer (Clontech). After extensive washing, proteins are eluted using 100 mM imidazole. Following this procedure, scFv fragments are further purified by gel filtration using a Superdex 75 column (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) connected to a Biologic instrument (Biorad). ScFv concentrations are quantitated using the bicinchoninic acid kit (Pierce). A fraction of the antibody mix is bound to a molar excess of biotinylated G protein in a 0.5 ml volume. The protein with bound scFvs is captured onto the surface of an excess of paramagnetic Streptavidin-coated beads (200 microliters of DYNAbeads, Dynal, Norway), in a way similar to what is described in Example 4 for phage selections. The supernatants of the mixture are then tested for the presence of scFv fragments in an SDS PAGE followed by Western blot analysis with the anti-tag antibodies to characterize the non-functional antibodies. The experiment provides evidence for the simultaneous production of three scFv fragments by the same host cell, and the efficient recovery of functional binding sites, thus correctly paired variable regions from this preparation.

Example 3. Production of Mixtures of scFv-Fc Antibodies Based on Recloned Hybridoma-Derived Anti-Rabies Antibodies and Co-Expression in a Eukaryotic System

This example describes the production of a mixture of three or six different proteins composed of variable regions paired to form two or three binding specificities. In a further example, the scFv genes are subcloned into a eukaryotic expression vector based on pCDNA3 which carries the human gamma-1 region. This plasmid, VHExpress, was extensively engineered to remove internal restriction enzyme sites (Persic et al. (1997) 187:9-18), and contains a promoter (CMV instead of EF-1alpha as in publication), a eukaryotic leader sequence, a polylinker with cloning sites for an antibody variable region, the human gamma-1 gene and the bovine growth hormone poly A site (FIG. 15). Further it contains the genes encoding amp and neo resistance, and the SV40 origin of replication. The full sequence is given in SEQ ID NO:115. This vector is suitable for the expression of antibody variable region genes formatted as scFv fragments. The cloning of the scFv gene of antibody JA is carried out as follows. The scFv is used as a template in a PCR reaction with oligonucleotides 5′-TATC CGC GCG CAC TCC GAG GTG CAG CTG TTG GAG TCT GGG GG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:125) and the reverse complement of 5′-ACC CGG GTC ACC GTC TCC TCC GGT GAG TCC TAG CGC TTT TCG T-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 126). The PCR fragment of approximately 750-800 bp is isolated, digested with BssHII and Eco47III and cloned into similarly cut plasmid VHExpress. Similarly, the scFv genes of antibodies JB and M57 are cloned into this plasmid; to avoid digestion at internal sites the other suitable site is used (Bpu1102I) or a three-way ligation which also yields the same plasmid. The resulting plasmids with correctly cloned scFv, called respectively pscFv-Fc-JA, pscFv-Fc-JB and pscFv-Fc-M57, are introduced into host cells, in this example PER.C6® cells.

For an initial analysis, these plasmids are transiently expressed either alone or in combinations of two or three scFv-Fc constructs. Cells grown to 5×10⁶ cells/ml in culture medium with 10% Fetal calf serum (FCS) in 80 cm² flasks are transfected for four hours using lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to the manufacturer's instructions (140 microliters Lipofectamine per 10 micrograms of DNA per flask) in serum-free medium at 37° C. After this incubation, cells are washed, resuspended in rich culture medium, and the cells grown for five days. The supernatant is harvested for analysis of the secreted scFv-Fc fusion protein. A sandwich ELISA is used to quantify the amount of IgG produced, using two antibodies directed to the Fc region. The scFv-Fc fusion proteins are purified using protein A affinity chromatography using a HighTrap column (Amersham Pharmacia) according to the manufacturer's instructions for IgG1), and the eluate concentrated via Microcon-YM30 concentrator (Amicon) and its buffer exchanged for PBS pH 7.0. The occurrence of different scFv-Fc mixtures, six in total for the cells transfected with the three scFv-Fc genes, are further characterized as described above in ELISA, and using viral isolates that are specifically recognized by the antibodies, including European bat virus 2 for antibody JB and Lagos bat virus and Mokoa virus for antibody JA, and strains CVS-11, CVS-24, PM, SHBRV and COSRV (Champion et al., J. Immunol. Methods (2000) 235:81-90). The presence of the M57 and JB binding sites is confirmed using an anti-Id antibody (see, also Examples 14 and 22). Following this, the viral neutralization activity of the mixture of three monospecific and three bispecific molecules (without purification) is assayed for the presence of rabies virus-neutralizing antibodies using the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT) as described by Hooper et al., ASM Pres, WA, p. 1997. Essentially, serial dilutions are made of the supernatant containing the antibody mixture in 96-well plates (Nunc), and a rabies virus dilution known to cause 70-80% infection of indicator cells added to each well. Controls are positive rabies-immune serum control samples and negative medium are also included. After one hour, to each well, 50,000 baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells are added and the culture incubated overnight at 37° C. Plates are then washed once with ice-cold PBS and the cells fixed with ice-cold 90% acetone for 20 minutes at −20° C. Acetone is removed and to the air-dried plates 50 microliters of FITC-labeled anti-rabies nucleoprotein monoclonal antibody (ab 1002 from abcam site or antibody from Centocor, Malvern) is added. After one hour incubation at 37° C., the plates are washed three times with water and analyzed under a fluorescence microscope. The activity of each of the scFv-components is studied by testing in this assay the neutralization of a variety of different rabies isolates, including the ones mentioned in Example 1.

The same plasmids, pscFv-Fc-JA, pscFv-Fc-JB and pscFv-Fc-M57, are also suitable for making stable transfectants. By selection using the neo-resistance gene and culturing and screening methods known to those in the art, stable PER.C6® derived cell lines expressing antibodies are obtained. Essentially 5×10⁶ PER.C6® cells are transfected using Lipofectamine according to the manufacturer's instructions, and 3 micrograms of DNA per plasmid. Cells are transfected with the 3 micrograms of each plasmid separately, or with 1.5 micrograms each of pscFv-Fc-JA and pscFv-Fc-JB, or with 1.5 micrograms each of pscFv-Fc-JB and pscFv-Fc-M57, or with 1 microgram of each of pscFv-Fc-JA, pscFv-Fc-JB and pscFv-Fc-M57, or with a control LacZ vector. After five hours, the cells are washed and the medium is exchanged with non-selective medium. The next day the medium is replaced with fresh medium containing 500 micrograms/ml G418 (Sigma-Aldrich) and also every next two to three days, the culture medium is refreshed until clones appear (15 to 20 days after seeding). Clones are picked and cloned out to limiting dilution conditions, such that two to three weeks later, clonal cell lines start appearing. These are expanded to larger wells and flasks, and eventually the selective medium is omitted. The supernatant of these cell lines is harvested for analysis of the secreted scFv-Fc fusion protein. As before, a sandwich ELISA (as described in WO 00/63403) is used to quantify the amount of IgG produced, using two antibodies directed to the Fc region. The scFv-Fc fusion proteins are purified using protein A affinity chromatography using a HighTrap column (Amersham Pharmacia) according to the manufacturer's instructions for IgG1. Purified scFv-Ig from various clones is isolated, purified and tested in a series of assays. The first is to analyze the presence of the two or three different scFv genes of the cell lines created, by amplifying the genomic DNA of these cell lines with antibody JA/JB or M57 scFv or V-gene-specific oligonucleotides, and confirming the presence by sequencing the amplified material. The copy number of each of the integrated antibody constructs is determined with methods such as Southern blot or Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH). Second, the mixture is biochemically characterized using SDS-PAGE and iso-electric focusing. Alternatively, anti-idiotype antibodies or peptide mimitopes are used to delineate the compositions (see, Example 12). The stability of the expression level, of the ratios between the different scFv components, and of the composition of the antibody mixture produced by cell lines which produce the mix of three or six proteins is followed over time by these assays. Finally, binding and neutralization assays are carried out, including antigen binding in ELISA and in fluorescence microscopy with infected cells and tissues, and in the RFFIT virus neutralization assay as described above. The biological activity of the mixture is tested against a range of rabies isolates and the activity determined according to the international Units of Rabies Antibodies and referenced to WHO reference Rabies Immunoglobulin (WHO Technical Series Report (1994) vol 848, p. 8; and vol. 840). By testing the biological activity (virus neutralization) of a series of cell lines producing variable quantities of the three scFv-Fc fusions, the most optimal mixture is identified. The mixtures are compared to the activity of IMMOGAM® Rabies, the human immunoglobulin preparation used for passive immunotherapy (see, also www.aventispasteur.com/usa/product/pdffiles/!LE3439I.PDF). The effect of the bispecific component is tested by comparing the neutralization efficacy of the scFv-Fc protein mixture with the activity of comparable quantities of the (1) individual whole recombinant antibodies JA (IgG1), JB (IgG1) and M57 (IgG1), (2) mixtures of two or three of these antibodies. Due to the discrepancy observed sometimes between in vitro and in vivo neutralization data, besides in vitro neutralization tests, it may sometimes be necessary to carry out in vivo neutralization tests using mouse protection experiments as described in Dietzschold et al. (1992) PNAS 89:7252.

Example 4. Selection of Optimally Paired Variable Regions for Two Antibody Variable Region Pairs by Optimizing the Light Chain Variable Region

Antibodies M57 and JB are used in this experiment. Both have a lambda light chain, of class I for JB and class II for M57, with homology between the two chains (FIG. 16). The antibody heavy chain variable region genes of these two antibodies are cloned into vector pFab-display, which resembles functionally pCES1 (H. J. de Haard et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:18218-18230), and is a Fab fragment display and expression vector. In this vector system, the variable heavy chain region genes are cloned as VH-gene fragments; the vector supplies all Fabs with a human gamma-1 CH1 gene. The Fd fragment is fused to two tags for purification and detection: a histidine tail for Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC) and a c-myc-derived tag, followed by an amber stop codon and the minor coat protein III of filamentous phage fd. The antibody light chain is cloned as full VLCL fragment, for directed secretion and assembly with the VHCH1 on the phage particle. Restriction enzyme sites and the sequence of the polylinker region is indicated in FIGS. 17A and 17B. The cloning of the variable regions is carried out similarly as described in Example 2, with oligonucleotides to amplify the VH region and that append appropriate restriction enzyme sites. The resulting plasmids are designated pVH-M57 and pVH-JB, respectively.

These plasmids are used as recipients for a collection of human lambda chains derived from human donors. B lymphocytes are isolated from 2-L of blood on a Ficoll-Pacque gradient. For RNA isolation, the cell pellet is immediately dissolved in 50 ml 8 M guanidinium thiocyanate/0.1 M 2-mercaptoethanol. Chromosomal DNA is sheared to completion by passing through a narrow syringe (1.2/0.5 mm gauge), and insoluble debris is removed by low speed centrifugation (15 minutes 2,934×g at room temperature). RNA is pelleted by centrifugation through a CsCl-block gradient (12 ml supernatant on a layer of 3.5 ml 5.7 M CsCl/0.1 M EDTA; in total four tubes) during 20 hours at 125,000×g at 20° C. in an SW41-rotor (Beckman). RNA is stored at −20° C. in ethanol. Random primed cDNA is prepared with 250 μg PBL RNA. RNA is heat denatured for five minutes at 65° C. in the presence of 20 μg random primer (Promega), subsequently buffer and DTT are added according to the suppliers instructions (Gibco-BRL), as well as 250 μM dNTP (Pharmacia), 800 U RNAsin (40 U/μl; Promega) and 2,000 U MMLV-RT (200 U/μl; Gibco-BRL) in a total volume of 500 μl. After two hours at 42° C., the incubation is stopped by a phenol/chloroform extraction; cDNA is precipitated and dissolved in 85 μl water. From this material, the variable region gene pools from the light chain lambda family are amplified using 4 Vλ-specific oligonucleotides that preferentially pair to the lambda I and II families (HuV11A/B/C-BACK and HuV12-BACK as in Table below) and with two primers based in the constant regions (HuC12-FOR and HuC17-FOR as in the Table below, combined in each reaction), and with PCR in a volume of 50 μl, using AmpliTaq polymerase (Cetus) and 500 μM of each primer for 28 cycles (one minute at 94° C., one minute at 55° C. and two minutes at 72° C.). All products are purified from agarose gel with the QIAex-II extraction kit (Qiagen). As input for reamplification to introduce restriction sites, 100 to 200 ng purified DNA-fragment is used as template in a 100 μl reaction volume, using the oligonucleotides appropriately extended to provide the sites for cloning, ApaLI and AscI (last six primers of following Table). This amplified material is purified, digested with AscI and ApaLI and two samples cloned into the two different plasmids pVH-M57 and pVH-JB.

HuV11A-BACK 5′-CAG TCT GTG CTG ACT CAG CCA CC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 127) HuV11B-BACK 5′-CAG TCT GTG YTG ACG CAG CCG CC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 128) HuV11C-BACK 5′-CAG TCT GTC GTG ACG CAG CCG CC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 129) HuV12-BACK 5′-CAR TCT GCC CTG ACT CAG CCT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 130) HuC12-FOR 5′-TGA ACA TTC TGT AGG GGC CAC TG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 131) HuC17-FOR 5′-AGA GCA TTC TGC AGG GGC CAC TG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 132) HuV11A-BACK-APA 5′-ACC GCC TC ACC AGT GCA CAG TCT GTG CTG ACT CAG CCA CC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 133) HUV11B-BACK-APA 5′-ACC GCC TCC ACC AGT GCA CAG TCT GTG YTG ACG CAG CCG CC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 134) HuV11C-BACK-APA 5′-ACC GCC TCC ACC AGT GCA CAG TCT GTC GTG ACG GAG CCG CC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 135) HUV12-BACK-APA 5′-ACC GCC TCC ACC AGT GCA CAR TCT GCG CTG ACT CAG CCT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 136) HuC12-FOR.ASC 5′-ACC GCC TCC ACC GGG CGC GCC TTA TTA TGA ACA TTC TGT AGG GGC CAC TG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 137) HuC17-FOR-ASC 5-ACC GCC TCC ACC GGG CGC GCC TTA TTA AGA GCA TTC TGC AGG GGC CAC TG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 138)

This cloning results in two libraries designated as Fab-VH-M57-VLn and Fab-VH-JB-VLn.

Phage particles are made from cultures of these two libraries. The rescue of phagemid particles with helper phage M13-KO7 is performed according to (Marks et al. (1991), J. Mol. Biol. 222:581-597) on a 1-L scale, using representative numbers of bacteria from the library for inoculation, to ensure the presence of at least ten bacteria from each clone in the start inoculum. For selections, 10¹³ cfus (colony forming units) are used with 10 micrograms/ml Rabies glycoprotein coated in immunotubes (Maxisorp tubes, Nunc) or with 250 nM soluble biotinylated G protein. Antigen is biotinylated at a ratio of one to five molecules NHS-Biotin (Pierce) per molecule antigen according to the supplier's recommendations. Three rounds of selection are carried out with these libraries. Detailed protocols for culturing and selecting phage display libraries have been described elsewhere (as in Marks et al. (1991), J. Mol. Biol. 222:581-597) and are well known to those working in the art. Briefly, the selection with the biotinylated antigen is carried out as follows. Phage particles are incubated on a rotator wheel for one hour in 2% M-PBST (PBS supplied with 2% skimmed milk powder and 0.1% TWEEN®-20). Meanwhile, 100 μl Streptavidin-conjugated paramagnetic beads (Dynal, Oslo, Norway) are incubated on a rotator wheel for two hours in 2% M-PBST. Biotinylated antigen is added to the pre-incubated phage and incubated on a rotator wheel for 30 minutes. Next, beads are added and the mixture is left on the rotator wheel for 15 minutes. After 14 washes with 2% M-PBST and one wash with PBS, phage particles are eluted with 950 μl 0.1 M triethylamine for five minutes. The eluate is immediately neutralized by the addition of 0.5 ml Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) and is used for infection of long-phase E. coli TG1 cells. The TG1 cells are infected for 30 minutes at 37° C. and are plated on 2×TY (16 g Bacto-trypton, 10 g Yeast-extract and 5 g NaCl per liter) agar plates, containing 2% glucose and 100 μg/ml ampicillin. After overnight incubation at 30° C., the colonies are scraped from the plates and used for phage rescue as described (Marks et al. (1991), J. Mol. Biol. 222:581-597). Culture supernatants of individual selected clones harboring either rescued phage or soluble Fab fragments are tested in ELISA with directly coated antigen or indirectly captured biotinylated antigen via immobilized biotinylated BSA-streptavidin. Here described is the procedure with biotinylated antigen for the detection of soluble Fab fragments. For capture of biotinylated Rabies glycoprotein, first biotinylated BSA is coated at 2 μg/ml in PBS during one hour at 37° C. After three washes with PBS-0.1% (v/v) TWEEN®-20 (PBST), plates are incubated during one hour with streptavidin (10 μg/ml in PBS/0.5% gelatin) (24). Following washing as above, biotinylated antigen is added for an overnight incubation at 4° C. at a concentration of 3 μg/ml. The plates are blocked during 30 minutes at room temperature with 2% (w/v) semi-skimmed milk powder (Marvel) in PBS. The culture supernatant is transferred to these wells and diluted 1 or 5-fold in 2% (w/v) Marvel/PBS and incubated for two hours; bound Fab is detected with anti-myc antibody 9E10 (5 μg/ml) recognizing the myc-peptide tag at the carboxyterminus of the heavy Fd chain, and rabbit anti-mouse-HRP conjugate (DAKO). Following the last incubation, staining ms performed with tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and H₂O₂ as substrate and stopped by adding half a volume of 2 N H₂SO₄ the optical density is measured at 450 nm. Clones giving a positive signal in ELISA (over 2× the background), are further analyzed by BstNI-fingerprinting of the PCR products obtained by amplification with the oligonucleotides M13-reverse and geneIII-forward (as in Marks et al. (1991), J. Mol. Biol. 222:581-597).

Large-scale induction of soluble Fab fragments from individual clones is performed on a 50 ml scale in 2×TY containing 100 μg/ml ampicillin and 2% glucose. After growth at 37° C. to an OD₆₀₀ of 0.9, the cells are pelleted (ten minutes at 2,934×g) and resuspended in 2×TY with ampicillin and 1 mM IPTG. Bacteria are harvested after 3.5 hours growing at 30° C. by centrifugation (as before); periplasmic fractions are prepared by resuspending the cell pellet in 1 ml ice cold PBS. After 2 to 16 hours rotating head-over-head at 4° C., the spheroplasts are removed by two centrifugation steps: after spinning during ten minutes at 3,400×g, the supernatant is clarified by an additional centrifugation step during ten minutes at 13,000×g in an Eppendorf centrifuge. The periplasmic fraction obtained is directly used for determination of the affinity by surface plasmon resonance and of fine-specificity in western blot or virus neutralization studies.

Using the cited ELISA test, panels of antigen reactive Fabs are identified for both M57 and JB. The Fabs are purified and their relative affinity for the antigen compared to the native antibody as Fab determined. All clones that are in a ten-fold reach of the affinity are sequenced. For sequencing, plasmid DNA is prepared from 50 ml cultures grown at 30° C. in medium, containing 100 μg/nl ampicillin and 2% glucose, using the QIAGEN midi-kit (Qiagen). Sequencing is performed with the thermocycling kit (Amersham) with CY5-labeled primers CH1FOR (5′-GTC CTT GAC CAG GCA GCC CAG GGC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:139)) and M13REV (5′-CAG GAA ACA GCT ATG AC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:140)). The analysis is done as described above: the amino acid sequences of the two antibody VL sets, for M57 and JB, are compared to one another. Many of the selected variants are derived from the lambda 1 and lambda 2 family but carry somatic mutations throughout the sequence. In each collection, a set of 10 VLs are selected that are putative “common” candidates for pairing to both VHs, and these are cloned via the common restriction sites ApaLI and AscI into the plasmid carrying the other VH. Thus, the VLCL of a candidate clone of library Fab-VH-M57-VLn is isolated using gel-electrophoresis of the ApaLI-AscI digest and cloned into pVH-JB. This is carried out for all candidate VLs; the new combinations are all tested as before in ELISA for their pairing compatibility with the non-cognate VH. The clone with highest affinity in both antibodies is designated VL-M57=JB. This procedure leads to the identification of a lambda variable region light chain that in the Fab format can optimally pair with both the VH of JB and of M57.

Example 5. Selection of Optimally Paired Variable Regions for Two Antibody Variable Region Pairs by Optimizing the Heavy Chain Variable Region

For occasions where the two light chains of two given antibodies are very different from one another, as is the case between antibodies of kappa and lambda families, it is also possible to follow an alternative strategy than the one described in Example 4. Herein described is the selection of an optimally paired VL that will be pairing in a compatible fashion with two VH variable regions. In the experiment, the major loop in the VH, the CDR3 that is both responsible for antigen binding and contributes to the interaction with the light chain, is diversified. Other schemes can be followed, in which other VH residues known to be structurally positioned at the VH-VL interface are mutated (exemplified in FIGS. 18A-18F). This procedure may also be applied to multiple variable region genes, using, for example, a chosen germ line encoded variable region gene and multiple partner variable regions which are then mutagenized and selected as in the following description.

The aim of the experiment is to find a JA-variant that will have optimally pairing behavior to VL-M57=JB. The JA antibody carries a kappa chain instead of a lambda (FIG. 16), and replacement of its cognate light chain with VL-M57-JB leads to a substantial loss of affinity. Therefore, it is the VH of this antibody that will be mutated, to compensate for loss of affinity with the antigen, and to provide also new potential interactions with the new VL. First, the VL-M57=JB is cloned as VLCL ApaLI-AscI fragment into pFab-display as described in Example 4; this yields plasmid pVL-M57=JB. The heavy chain of antibody JA is amplified from pVH-JA (Example 2) using two primers: 5′-GTC CTC GCA ACT GCG GCC CAG CCG GCC ATG GCA GAG GTG CAG CTG TTG GAG TCT GGG GG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:141), and the reverse complement of the following sequence, which is a mutagenic oligonucleotide that is spiked with mutations in the two residues preceding the CDR3 and throughout the CDR3 region (in the underlined region; see also FIGS. 18A-18F):

(SEQ ID NO: 142) 5′-C ACG GCC GTA TAT TAC TGT GCG AAA GAT CGA GAG GTT ACT ATG ATA GTT GTA CTT AAT GGA GGC TTT GAC TAC TGG GGC CAG GGA ACC CGGG TCA CCG TCT CCT-3′. The spiking is carried out by the inclusion during the oligonucleotide synthesis at the underlined residues, of mixes of 90% of the natural residue, and 10% of a mix with equimolar ratios of the four residues. The PCR is carried out as in Example 1 to yield a 350-400 bp fragment, which is gel-purified, digested with SfiI and BstEII and cloned into pVL-M57=JB, to form a library of variants of JA, designated Fab-JA-YHmut.

This library is now rescued using helper phage and selections and screenings are carried out on Rabies glycoprotein according to the methods described in Example 4. The resulting Fab clones that maintain antigen binding contain a VH-JA variant that is pairing-compatible with VL-M57=JB. Candidate Fabs are produced and purified, and their affinity determined as described in Example 4. The variable heavy chain mutant of the highest affinity is designated VH-JA*.

Example 6. Isolation of Antibodies Against Rabies Glycoprotein from a Random Combinatorial Phage Library and Screening for Compatible VL Between Binding Clones

Phage display libraries are a suitable source of antibodies. Libraries that are suitable for the assembly of the panels of antibodies include non-immune libraries (H. J. de Haard et al. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274:18218-18230), semi-synthetic libraries (de Kruif et al. (1995) J. Mol. Biol. 248:97, and Griffiths et al. (1994) EMBO J. 13:3245-3260) and also immune libraries, which often display a lower level of variable chain diversity. The first application presented is to select antibodies to one antigen only, providing a mixture of antibodies directed to the same antigen that can then be screened for pairing-compatible variable regions, and used to produce an antibody mixture. The second application concerns the selection of antibodies to two different antigens. Methods to carry out selections and screenings are well known in the art and are also described in Examples 4 and 5. Using selection on antigens, panels of antibody fragments specific for a given set of antigens are obtained. For each of the panels the sequence of VH and VL is determined. Thus, each antigen will have a set of reactive antibodies. It is then possible to identify by visual inspection in each of the panels those antibodies that share a given VL or have highly related VLs between the different sets. The cases described in Example 4 are also applicable here. In the best case each set has at least one antibody with an identical VL as at least one other antibody in the other sets. When this is not the case, a suitable VL that matches a given VH is found by the methods described in Example 4: the VH is paired with a repertoire of VLs, of which the composition is driven by the homology with a given VL or VLs. Alternatively, one VL is chosen and the non-matching VH is mutagenized as described in Example 5, to yield compatible pairs for all sets. The sequences are further inspected to find pairing-compatible variable regions that do not have sequence identity or homology. Variable heavy chains that pair with multiple variable light chains and vice versa are identified. Such “promiscuous” pairings imply that the variable region involved binds to the same antigen with any of several partner chains. To rapidly identify such variable regions, it is particularly useful to use semi-synthetic antibody libraries which have a limited number of positions which were diversified, as has been described for the human synthetic phage antibody library in Griffiths et al. (1994) EMBO J. 13:3245-3260.

In the first application, antibodies are selected against one antigen, the Rabies glycoprotein. The library described in Griffiths et al. (1994) EMBO J. 13:3245-3260, is selected on the Rabies glycoprotein antigen as described earlier. There are different sources of the antigen, including the material purified as in Dietzschold et al. (1996) Laboratory Techniques in Rabies, Eds Meslin, Kaplan and Korpowski, World Health Organization, Geneva, p. 175. Alternatively, a source of recombinant Rabies Glycoprotein (G) of the appropriate type is used for the coating. The sequence of rabies G is available to persons in the art and so are cloning, expression and purification techniques. A suitable format is to use an immuno-adhesion-type of molecules, in which the soluble part of the glycoprotein is genetically fused to an immunoglobulin Fc region, and the fusion protein expressed in eukaryotic cells (see, also Chamow and Ashkenazi, Antibody Fusion Proteins, 1999, Wiley-Liss, NY). For phage selection, the immuno-adhesion is biotinylated to be used in a selection as described in Example 4, or immobilized by coating. Alternatively, selections are carried out on immobilized (or biotinylated) Rabies virions, and selections are carried out each round on virions derived from different Rabies strains, to obtain a panel of antibodies that recognize the most common epitopes present in the different strains. These procedures yield a panel of antibodies directed to the Rabies antigen, but the compatibility of the pairing of variable regions of the individual candidates has to be tested.

Disclose herein are the use of the antibodies from the phage antibody library described by Griffiths et al. (1994) EMBO J. 13:3245-3260, but for the clones from other libraries the same principles apply. A panel of Fabs reactive with the Rabies glycoprotein is identified and the procedure to find optimally pairing VH and VL combinations as described above carried out. As an alternative, independent of sequencing, to identify optimally paired VH and VL pairs (that, for example, are missed in the sequencing analysis), the following empirical approach is followed. The variable light chains of a panel of 30 human antibodies are shuffled, and the new combinations tested in a binding assay. The shuffling is carried out by recloning the light chains present in the antigen reactive Fab clones which are based in the recombined fd-DOG-2lox-plasmid, as ApaLI-AscI fragment into the same Fab-containing phage genomes cut with the same (unique) enzymes. This is an experiment that is done in batch, with all 30 VL inserts and 30 VH-containing vectors mixed; sequencing is used to delineate the pairing of each VH-VL pair. ELISA is used to define which antibodies retain antigen binding activity and those clones are sequenced. The resulting combinations provide VH-VL which are pairing-compatible, the first class of which is formed by clones that share a VL or related VL; in that case one can be chosen plus the different VH genes for making OLIGOCLONICS® (see, Example 10). The second class contains clones with “promiscuous” pairing, and the VH genes of these are combined with the VH and VL pairs of those Fabs which are compatible with this tolerant VH.

The second application concerns the selection of phage antibodies on two different antigens, as indicated in FIG. 2. The same procedures as were just described for one antigen are followed, now to assemble two sets of antibodies, one for each antigen. The same procedures are followed also to identify clones with an identical or similar variable region sequence, or empirically, to demonstrate the existence of pairing-compatible antibodies between the two sets of antibodies.

Example 7. Isolation of Antibodies Against Rabies Glycoprotein from a Phage Library with Limited Diversity and Screening Antibodies which are Non-Competitive

Phage antibody scFv or Fab libraries that are formed by focusing the diversity in one variable region and keeping the other variable region invariable, for example a germ line sequence, are particularly relevant. From such libraries it is feasible to isolate antibodies with a different heavy chain yet identical light chain, or vice versa (FIG. 3). Such antibodies are readily reformatted into an OLIGOCLONICS® format. In the art, it has been described that antibodies that share the same VL gene but have different VH genes and widely varying specificities can be obtained from phage antibody display libraries (Nissim et al. (1994), EMBO J. 13:692-698).

A sub-library of the semi-synthetic scFv library (de Kruif et al. (1995) J. Mol. Biol. 248:97) is used in the following example. This sub-library contains antibodies with diversity in the VH region only. Selections on antigen are carried out as described in the previous examples. Using Rabies glycoprotein as the antigen as described in Example 6, ten human antibodies with different VH yet identical VL are identified. These are immediately suitable for inclusion into OLIGOCLONICS® (Example 10). In some instances it will be favorable to identify those antibodies that recognize different epitopes from the other antibodies in the mixture, and/or to obtain antibodies that recognize the same epitope recognized by a given monoclonal and polyclonal antibody. The competitive nature of the selected ten scFv antibodies with the Rabies monoclonal antibody M57 is determined in ELISA, using the set-up described in Example 2 (essentially, with bound antigen, adding sample, and detecting using an HRP-labeled anti-c-myc antibody) in the presence or absence of the M57 antibody. Competition experiments between the clones are readily performed using similar competition ELISAs with the phage-scFv particles and the soluble scFv fragments. Besides this procedure to screen clones for a particular competition-behavior, it is also possible to influence the selection outcome, either by using an antibody to block a site on the antigen during the selection (preventing antibodies to or competing with this epitope from being selected), or by using an antibody to competitively elute the fraction of phage antibodies that is bound to the same epitope. Examples of both are known in the art and methods are applicable here also to define suitable antibody combinations for inclusion in the OLIGOCLONICS® composition.

Example 8. Isolation of Single-Domain Antibodies Against Rabies Glycoprotein from a VL Phage Library, and Pairing with a Suitable Variable Region

Antibodies made in two steps are also suitable for the inclusion in the OLIGOCLONICS® format and to make antibody mixtures. Rabies-specific single domain VL antibody fragments are selected from a phage displayed repertoire isolated from human PBLs and diversified by DNA-shuffling, as described in van den Beucken et al. (2001), J. Mol. Biol. 591-601 (libraries B and C). Selection and screening experiments are done as described in the previous examples. After the third round of selection, the pool of VLs is taken for combination with one VH segment (as depicted in FIG. 4, column (e)). For this, the VL pool is recloned by PCR as an ApaLI-XhoII fragment into pFab-display (FIGS. 17A and 17B) into which is cloned a single human VH. The latter is a DP-47 gen line encoded variable region with short CDR3 sequence designated VH-N (SEQ ID NO: 116), which is obtained by providing via PCR antibody clone FITC-B11l from Table IV in Griffiths et al. (1994) EMBO J. 13:3245.3260, with a short, five-residue CDR3 of amino acid sequence GGAVY (SEQ ID NO:143), and cloning this as SfiI-BstEII fragment into pFab-display. This CDR3 is found in many different antibodies, and a short sequence with minimal length side chains (except for the tyrosine) is chosen to minimize effects on antigen binding and pairing. The resulting mini-library is screened for those antibody Fab fragments that maintain antigen binding. The three best Rabies glycoprotein-specific VL genes are designated VL-G1, G2 and G3. Similarly, the principles of this approach are applicable to building antigen-specific heavy chain fragments based on the VH domain, and providing these with a “neutral” VL, or even “neutral” partner VH.

Example 9. Selection of Antibodies with Pairing-Compatible Variable Regions by Intracellular Competition, and Expression of a Composition of Two or Three Fab Fragments with Pairing-Compatible Variable Regions

Selections with phage libraries are carried out using monoclonal antibodies as competitors during the formation of new phage particles. The selection biases the library selection towards variable region pairs with compatible pairing in the context of multiple variable regions being expressed in the same host cell. The system relies on the simultaneous expression of two or more Fab fragments, the variable region of one of which is anchored onto a phage coat protein (FIG. 5).

First, the variable region genes of antibody M57 are cloned into pFab-Sol-pbr, a derivative of pFab-display (FIGS. 17A and 17B) with the same polylinker, but no gIII, no M13 intergenic region and instead of pUC119 the pBR322 backbone carrying the ampicillin resistance gene. The variable region genes of antibody JB are cloned in pFab-Sol-ACY-cat, similar in set-up as the previous one but carrying the Chloramphenicol resistance gene and based on the pACYC backbone. Both plasmids mediate the expression of the soluble non-tagged Fab fragment under control of the lacZ promoter, and they are compatible with one another and can be maintained in the same cell with antibiotic selection. Methods for the cloning have been described earlier; the sequences of these antibodies are also included in the sequence listings below, thus it will be possible for someone working in the art to clone these Fabs into these polylinkers such that upon induction with IPTG, both antibodies are expressed in the periplasm of the culture. These two antibody Fab fragments form the competitors in this method. E. coli TG1 cells harboring both plasmids are infected with phage harboring a library of human Fab fragments, in which the heavy chain is anchored to the phage coat and the light chain is provided as a soluble, non-anchored chain. The fd-based library from Griffiths et al. (1994) EMBO J. 13:3245-3260, which contains both VH and VL diversity is used for infection, the resulting bacteria start producing new phage particles and incorporate the L and Fd chains expressed from this genome. Cells are grown to an OD of 1.0, the cells washed to remove produced phage, and the cells incubated for four hours in 1 mM IPTG. During this time, competition will occur for pairing between the three variable heavy and light chains, and there are many opportunities for mispairing. The phage produced during this induction time will only recognize the native antigen, if the VH is tolerant to pair with any VL yet bind antigen, or when it exclusively pairs with the VL that is also encoded in the genome. The phage is harvested, PEG precipitated, dissolved in PBS, and is now selected for binding to Rabies glycoprotein. Methods for selection have been described earlier. In both case the phage will be able to bind antigen, and be enriched in a selection round with antigen. The phage resulting from the selection is used to infect cells harboring the two Fab-containing plasmids, and the cycle of induction, phage preparation and selection is repeated. After five rounds of this selection, the resulting Fab proteins are tested for antigen binding in a solid phage ELISA and recloned into the soluble expression vectors pFab-Sol-ACY-cata and pFab-Sol-pbr. E. colis are transfected with one of these plasmids and either the M57-containing vector or the JB-containing vector described above, or no additional vector. These cultures are induced with IPTG (inducing expression of one or two Fab fragments), and the resulting Fab fragments and Fab mixes analyzed for antigen binding in ELISA. To confirm exclusive or tolerant pairing, the Fab fragments are purified using IMAC and tested in a capture assay with antigen as described in Example 2. The selected variable region pair can be further used to build an OLIGOCLONICS® mixture with either M57 or JB variable region genes (but not together), as in Example 10.

For making a mix of these three antibodies, the experiment is repeated using the VL-M57=JB from Example 4 instead of the two original light chains VL-M57 and VL-JB. The result of the selection is a small number of Rabies antigen-specific VH-VL pairs derived from the phage library. The best candidate according to affinity, with designated variable regions VH-PO1 and VL-PO1, is further tested as above to confirm that it is pairing-compatible with the VH-57, the VH-JB and the VL-M57=JB. Next, the following expression cassettes are introduced in the same E. coli host cell using the two plasmids described earlier for producing the competing Fab, using cloning methods familiar to those working in the art: in cassette (1), on one plasmid, the VL-M57=JB-CL and VH-CH1 of M57; in cassette (2), the VL-M57=JB and VH-CH1 of JB (a second copy is provided to obtain an excess of light chain for pairing with the two heavy chains); and in cassette (3), on the other plasmid, the VL-PO1-CL and VH-PO1-CH1. Induction with IPTG leads to the production of a mixture of Fab fragments with paired variable regions, which is then recovered using IMAC purification. Alternatively, protein G purification is used. Using the binding and other assays described in the earlier examples for Rabies glycoprotein antibodies, the mixture is characterized. The contents of the mixture is dependent on the growth and induction conditions of the bacteria and the primary amino acid sequences of the Fab genes.

Example 10. Methods for Production of OLIGOCLONICS® in Eukaryotic Cells

A method for producing a mixture of antibodies in eukaryotic cells using expression in a recombinant host cell of multiple VH and VL genes resulting in the production of VH and VL proteins capable of pairing to form functional bivalent and bispecific antibodies, named OLIGOCLONICS®, is exemplified herein. The general format of a eukaryotic expression vector for human monoclonal antibodies is shown in FIG. 19.

The VH and VL regions of human monoclonal antibodies specific for rabies virus obtained by any of the methods described in the previous examples, can be inserted into an eukaryotic expression vector containing the HATV20 leader sequence and all the coding sequences of the constant regions of human immunoglobulin heavy (for example, IgG1) and light chains (for example, a kappa light chain) essentially as described (E. Boel et al. (2000), J. Immunol. Methods, 239:153-166). In this example, the following variable region genes optimized for pairing are used: VH-M57, VH-JB (non-modified variable region genes, from Example 2), VH-JA* (the optimized sequence of the VH of antibody JA, from Example 5), and only one light chain, VL=M57=JB (from Example 4). The resulting plasmids encoding heavy and light chains are transfected into eukaryotic cells such as the human cell line PER.C6® and in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) to generate stable cell lines secreting antibodies. For this, published methods and methods known to persons skilled in the art are used (E. Boel et al. (2000), J. Immunol. Methods, 239:153-166 and WO 00/63403). For the generation of stable PER.C6® cells secreting antibodies, PER.C6® cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FCS and in tissue culture dishes (10 cm in diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5×10⁶ cell per dish or flask and kept overnight in an incubator at 37° C. and 10% CO₂. The next day, transfections are preformed in separate dishes at 37° C. using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer. The plasmids encoding the monoclonal antibodies can be mixed in various ratios and used at a concentration of 1-10 μg/ml. As controls, cells are subjected to the transfection procedure in the absence of plasmids.

After four to five hours, cells are washed twice with DMEM and fed with fresh culture medium. The next day, the culture medium is removed and cells are fed with fresh medium containing 500 μg/ml of the antibiotic G418. Cells are fed every two or three days with culture medium containing 500 μg/ml of G418. After about 20 to 22 days after initiation of the experiment, a large number of colonies is visible and from each transfection, 300 clones are picked and grown individually in 96-well plates and further expanded in 24-well, 6-well and T25 flasks. At this stage, cells are frozen in liquid nitrogen and production levels of recombinant immunoglobulin are determined in an ELISA according to standard procedures (e.g., E. Boel et al. (2000), J. Immunol. Methods, 239:153-166 and WO 00/63403). At this stage of the culture procedure, G418 is no longer added to the culture medium.

To establish the presence of anti-rabies antibodies in a mixture, a solid phase anti-rabies ELISA is performed. For the rabies virus ELISA, rabies virus glycoprotein is purified according to standard procedures (Dietzschold et al., in F.-X. Meslin et al. eds., Laboratory techniques in Rabies, World Health Organization, Geneva, page 175). Plates (PolySorb™, Nunc) are coated with 5 μg/ml of glycoprotein diluted in PBS and 150 μl/well. The plates are then blocked with 5% powdered milk in PBS and washed in PBS containing 0.05% TWEEN®-20 (PBS-TWEEN®) prior to the addition of supernatant samples. Following incubation at room temperature for two hours, the plates are washed with PBS-TWEEN® to remove unbound antibody present in the supernatant samples. Enzyme-conjugated or biotinylated secondary antibodies specific for various human heavy chain isotypes are added for one hour at room temperature and the plates are subsequently washed with PBS-TWEEN®. Detection of secondary antibody is performed according to standard procedures (e.g., J. M. Champion et al. (2000), J. Immunol. Methods 235:81-90); see also previous examples. Other analysis methods are described in Examples 3, 4 and 12.

Next, it is demonstrated that a clonal cell line accounts for the production of each of the binding specificities encoded by the plasmids, i.e., proving that a single cell is able to produce a mixture of multiple anti-rabies antibodies. For a limited number of colonies that secrete a mixture of all monoclonal antibodies, 30 clones selected from the initial panel of approximately 300, clonality is further established by subcloning under limiting dilution known to persons skilled in the art. Picked and expanded colonies are seeded in a 96-well plate at a concentration of 0.3 cells/well in DMEM with 10% FCS and expanded. Colonies of cells are processed as described above and are referred to as subclones. Subclones are screened by PCR on genomic DNA for the presence or absence of each of the three constructs. Further confirmation of the presence of the constructs is obtained by nucleotide sequence analysis of the PCR products.

For a representative number of subclones, larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgG1 fraction from the conditioned supernatant using Protein A affinity chromatography according to standard procedures. Purified human Ig from the various subclones is subsequently analyzed by SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) according to standard protocols (see, also, Examples 3 and 12).

Subclones that are shown to harbor the relevant plasmids are brought into culture for an extensive period of time to determine whether the presence of the plasmids is stable and whether expression of the antibody mixture remains the same, not only in terms of expression levels, but, in particular, the ratio between the various antibodies that are secreted from the cell. Therefore, the subclone culture is maintained for at least 25 population doubling times. At every four to six population doublings, a specific production test is performed using the human Ig-specific ELISA and larger volumes are cultured to obtain the cell pellet and the supernatant. The cell pellet is used to assess the presence of the three constructs in the genomic DNA, either via PCR, Southern blot and/or FISH. The supernatant is used to purify the recombinant human Ig fraction as described. Purified human Ig obtained at the various population doublings is subsequently analyzed as described, i.e., by SDS-PAGE, Iso-electric focusing (IEF) and binding in the inhibition ELISA.

Example 11. Method for Selecting Antigen-Specific Proteinaceous Compounds Using Mixtures of Encoding DNA

The basis for the mixtures of antibodies present in OLIGOCLONICS® are immunoglobulin variable regions that encode human monoclonal antibodies that have been selected for their specificity, contain variable region genes with compatible pairing behavior and are thus compatible with the OLIGOCLONICS® format. For example, antibodies that are encoded by different VH genes and bind to different epitopes but share the same VL gene are suitable for the OLIGOCLONICS® format. Example 7 describes how such antibodies are obtained.

In this Example, methods using eukaryotic expression systems to obtain human monoclonal antibodies with desired specificities and that share the same VL gene are described. Such “repertoires” of human VH genes are PCR-amplified from the B lymphocytes of human individuals and typically harbor 10⁸ to 10¹⁰ members. The method is known to persons skilled in the art and has been described many times in the literature; the amplification of antibody genes is also exemplified for human V-lambda libraries in Example 4. The source of B lymphocytes may be any lymphoid organ including blood, bone marrow, tonsil, spleen, lymph node, etc. The individual may be pre-selected because it is expected that B lymphocytes producing the antibodies of interest are enriched in those individuals because of, e.g., a prior infection with a micro-organism or because of a prior immunization, or may be randomly picked. The VH genes may be used unaltered in their coding region or may be altered, particularly in the CDR3 region to introduce novel specificities. Such VH genes are known in the art as synthetic or semi-synthetic VH regions. In certain embodiments, primers are used that selectively amplify members of a few VH gene families such as the large VH3 and VH4 gene families. Primers that amplify members of more VH gene families may also be used in procedures known by persons skilled in the art.

Amplified VH regions are cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector for human monoclonal antibodies as described in Example 10 and subsequently introduced into eukaryotic cells such as CHO cells or PER.C6® cells. The expression plasmid shown in Example 10 that harbors a VL gene is used (FIG. 7). There are two alternatives: (1) the VL gene is co-transfected with the VH genes on a separate plasmid or (2) an approach particularly suitable when only one VL needs to be expressed the eukaryotic cells are already transfected with a human VL gene that is stably expressed. The eukaryotic cells are transfected with the repertoire of human VH genes cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector for human antibodies. High plasmid DNA concentrations are used to transfect the eukaryotic cells in order to introduce multiple copies of VH genes into a single cell. As a result a single cell will produce multiple antibodies, e.g., between 10 to 1000 different human antibodies. In the first approach, transfections are transient. In brief for PER.C6® cells, an 80 cm² tissue culture flask with cells is transfected by incubation for four hours with 140 μl lipofectamine+10 to 1000 μg plasmid DNA in serum-free DMEM medium. After four hours, the medium is replaced with DMEM+10% FCS, and the cells are grown overnight at 37° C. Cells are then washed with PBS and the medium is replaced with Excell 525 medium (JRH Bioscience). The cells are seeded at a concentration that results in the outgrowth of approximately 100 transfected cells/well of a 96-well culture plate. After five to six days, the cell culture supernatant is harvested and assayed for the presence of specific antibody by solid phase ELISA. The cells that correspond to the supernatants that score positive in ELISA are harvested and the VH genes are amplified by PCR. Subsequently, the amplified VH genes are cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector for human monoclonal antibodies, described in Example 10. Thus, a restricted repertoire of human VH genes is obtained. In this example, 100 cells that each harbors 100 VH genes yield a maximum of 10⁴ VH genes. This repertoire is transiently transfected into PER.C6® cells that harbor the same VL gene using low plasmid DNA concentrations (0.1 to 1 μg/ml) such that on average a single cell harbors a single VH gene and transfected cells are plated out under conditions such that only approximately ten cells/well will grow out. After five to six days, supernatants are screened in ELISA for specific antibodies and the cells corresponding to positive supernatants are harvested and used for PCR amplification of the VH genes. In this example, the maximum number of VH genes obtained is approximately ten. Each VH gene is separately transfected into PER.C6® cells and the VH gene encoding the desired antibody specificity is identified by screening the supernatants of clones in ELISA.

In a second approach, the initial library of 10⁸ to 10¹⁰ VH genes cloned together with a single VL gene into the plasmid described in Example 10, is transfected into PER.C6® cells and plated out in T80 cell culture flasks. After four to six days, the cells are harvested and mixed with red blood cells coated with the antigen of interest and individual cells are monitored for the secretion of specific antibodies against the coated antigen by the reverse hemolytic plaque assay, well-known in the art (e.g., F. Dammacco et al. (1984) Clin. Exp. Immunol. 57:743-51). B lymphocytes inducing plaques are visualized under a light microscope and picked with a micromanipulator. The single transfected PER.C6® cell is transferred to an Eppendorf tube, lysed and subjected to single cell PCR to amplify the VH genes. The advantage of this approach is that only a few rounds of selection are needed to identify the VH gene of interest.

In a third approach, stable transfectants are used. After the transfection as described above, large collections of clones are grown essentially as described in Example 10, with the exception that clones are not plated out under limiting dilution conditions. Instead, the cells after transfection are plated in microtiter plates such that after growth in the selective medium multiple clones per well arise (e.g., 100 cell clones per well as indicated in FIG. 7). Each clone expresses multiple species of heavy chains, and each well contains multiple clones. The supernatant of these cultures are tested for antigen binding and the VH-genes are further enriched in cycles of PCR, cloning, transfection and screening, as described above.

The expression of multiple antibodies by a single transfected eukaryotic cell is improved in all of these approaches by introducing anti-repressor DNA elements in the plasmid constructs for the expression of human monoclonal antibodies. Anti-repressor elements confer high level and stable expression of proteins in mammalian cells in a copy number-dependent fashion (Kwaks et al. (2003), Nat. Biotechnol. 21:553-558). The DNA fragments responsible for this effect are amplified from the clones described in this citation and introduced upstream of the heavy chain expression cassette. The human anti-repressor element nr. 40 (SEQ ID NO:117) is amplified from the pSDH vector containing the element (described in Kwaks et al.), using flanking oligonucleotides that also incorporate restriction sites suitable for cloning (5′-GTCCCTAGGAATTCGATCAAGAAA GCACTCCGGG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:144) and the reverse complement of 5′-CCTCATGATGTACATTAGAT CGAATTCGTAATACG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:145)). In this example, EcoRI (GAATTC (SEQ ID NO: 146)) which is not present in this segment, is appended at both ends of the segment in a PCR reaction, and the fragment digested with EcoRI and cloned into an EcoRI-digested acceptor plasmid. In this example, the latter is a chimeric plasmid of VHExpress and VLExpress, which is a composition made by cloning the full VHExpress plasmid (FIG. 15), cut with KpnI and EcoRI, and inserting the VK expression cassette that was digested with the same enzymes (described in Persic et al. (1997) 187:9-18). The resulting plasmid, pABExpress40 contains both heavy and light chain cassettes with their respective transcriptional orientation in opposite directions, and the anti-repressor element positioned in the middle of the two transcription units. A schematic map of the plasmid is shown in FIG. 22. This plasmid, pABExpress40 is used first in the cloning of the one chosen VL gene (using ApaLI and PacI cloning sites), resulting in pABExpress40-VL. This plasmid is used to receive the VH repertoire described above (as BssHII-BstEII fragment) (all of these four sites are unique in pABExpress40 and pABExpress40-VL). The cloning of the repertoire is carried out as described for the lambda repertoire in Example 4, using in the PCR of IgM-primed cDNA a set of nine oligonucleotides labeled “VH-back” and the mix of four “VH-forward” oligonucleotides described in Table 1 of H. J. de Haard et al. (1999), J. Biol. Chem. 274:18218-18230. The material is re-amplified using variants of the nine oligonucleotides appended with 5′-TATC CGC GCG CAC TCC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 147) and with the same VH forward mix, the product digested with BssHII and BstEII and cloned into pABExpress40-VL. The library is subsequently used as described in the previous examples to isolate panels of antigen-binding clones. Similarly the vector is used to construct the expression plasmid for given sets of antibodies, such as the ones described in Example 10, further confirming that the flanking variable region genes by anti-repressor elements facilitates the efficient and stable production of multiple antibodies by a single cell.

Example 12. Recovery and Analysis of Antibody Mixtures Using ELISA Including the Use of Anti-Idiotype and Peptide Mimotopes

Antibody mixtures containing Fc regions are recovered as indicated in Example 3 using Protein A affinity chromatography. Antibody fragments with Histidine tags are isolated using IMAC as described in Example 2.

The resulting protein mixtures are analyzed as follows. Considered was the case of an antibody mixture composed of different binding sites directed to the same target antigen, with all antibodies being the same isotype, carrying the same light chain, and the mixture containing both monovalent bispecific and bivalent monospecific IgG-type antibodies. The following methods are available for analyzing the mixture. The heavy chain variable region genes will yield different amino acid compositions and allow the following non-antigen-dependent analysis: (1) Isoelectric focusing gel analysis: this analysis relies on a different pI value for the various forms of the antibodies. In a mixture of two IgGs and one bispecific, these three molecules will each display a unique isoelectric point. Proteins with a different pI are separated via electrophoresis in a pH gradient. The method is semi-quantitative. If two proteins of the complex have only a minimal difference in their pI value, it will be difficult to separate them using this test, and the other tests cited are used. (2) Mass-Spectrometry analysis: this analysis relies on the differential composition of the VH region, which, after digestion with proteolytic enzymes, yields a unique spectrum of peptides in MassSpec analysis. This method is predominantly qualitative. (3) Binding analysis based on anti-idiotype antibodies or peptide mimics: this analysis requires the availability of reagents that specifically recognize one antibody binding site in the presence of the other binding sites in the mixture. Suitable for this analysis are anti-idiotype antibodies which uniquely recognize the idiotype of the antibody. In this example where the antibodies share a common light chain, the unique features of the idiotype are formed mainly by the heavy chain determinants. Anti-idiotype antibodies are selected using the individual monoclonal antibodies as antigen in a selection of a large phage displayed antibody library using methods known to those in the art. Typically used are a non-immune antibody library (H. J. de Haard et al. (1999), J. Biol. Chem. 274:18218-18230), which yields Fab fragments, and a semi-synthetic phage antibody library (de Kruif et al. (1995) J. Mol. Biol. 248:97). Anti-idiotype antibodies are selected on immobilized M57 and JB antibodies from the cited non-immune antibody library. Using ELISA screening of the selected phage antibodies on these two monoclonal antibodies used for the selection, anti-idiotype antibodies that uniquely recognize one of the two binding sites are identified. The respective Fab and scFv reagents selected from these library, are expressed as antibody fragments and purified using standard methods, for example, described in these citations and in Antibody Engineering (2001), Eds. Konterman and Dubel, Springer Lab Manual, and described in Example 2 for the scFv antibodies. The fragments are used in ELISA to determine which idiotype is present in the mixture, which is carried out in a quantitative assay. The anti-idiotype antibodies specific for the binding sites of M57 and JB are also used in virus competition experiments with the OLIGOCLONICS® preparation made in Example 10, to delineate the contribution of an individual binding site to the biological activity of the antibody mixture. Alternatively, the monoclonal antibodies are used to derive idiotype-associated peptides, linear or conformational peptides derived from the sequence of the antigen and still reactive with the antibody, for example, via PepScan analysis, as was demonstrated for the rabies virus-neutralizing antibody MAb 6-15C4 (van der Heijden et al. (1993), J. Gen. Virol. 74:1539-45). An alternative is to isolate peptide mimotopes, with sequences unrelated to the original antigen yet specifically binding to the variable regions of the antibody. Provided the reaction is specific for a given antibody in the context of the other antibodies in the mixture, such peptides are also suitable for a specific analysis of the antibody mixture. Peptides with such unique reactivity to a given antibody are selected from phage display peptide libraries using methods essentially similar to those for phage antibody libraries. The binding test with the anti-idiotype antibodies and peptide-mimotopes is qualitatively or quantitatively, and a large series of binding tests are feasible, including ELISA, RIA, Flow cytometric analysis, BIAcore, etc.

Also disclosed is the analysis of an OLIGOCLONICS® mixture comprising multiple antibodies, in which each of the original antibodies binds to a different antigen. This resembles the situation in which the antibodies recognize the same antigen or target, and anti-idiotype reagents or peptide mimics are available. The analysis of multiple specificities in a mixture is carried out as follows, keeping in mind that antigen is synonymous for anti-idiotype. The reactivity to individual antigens is tested in ELISA on all antigens separately, with standardized assays using the monoclonal antibodies and quantitative IgG ELISA test. Antigen is coated directly or indirectly, the plates incubated with the antibody mixture, and bound antibody detected with an anti-IgG reagent. This leads to a “specific” activity of the preparation, that is a reactivity in relative units of activity per antibody quantity. The amount of bispecific antibody in the mixture is determined using a sandwich assay with one antigen coated and a second antigen, for example labeled with HRP, Alkaline Phosphatase or biotin, or detectable using another antibody specific for this antigen, provided to the plate after the antibody mixture was incubated with the first antigen.

If the antibodies present in the OLIGOCLONICS® mixture are binding different targets or different epitopes on the same target such that they are non-competitive, this feature can be used in an inhibition ELISA to determine the presence of the different antibodies in the mixtures produced by the transfected clonal cell lines. Consider an OLIGOCLONICS® made according to the methods of the previous examples using the antibodies specific for the Rabies glycoprotein isolated in Example 7 (which are non-competitive). For the inhibition ELISA, the same procedures as described for the standard anti-rabies ELISA as described above is used with some modifications. The OLIGOCLONICS® mixture produced by a clonal cell line is characterized as follows. Before addition to the wells coated with rabies glycoprotein, the supernatants of the transfected clonal cell line is diluted with an equal volume of a biotinylated rabies monoclonal antibody used to make the mixture. The biotinylated rabies monoclonal antibody is added in various concentrations, ranging from 0.1 to 10 μg/ml. Binding of the biotinylated monoclonal antibody to the coated rabies glycoprotein is inhibited when the same non-biotinylated antibody is present in the mixture produced by the clonal cell line. The binding of the biotinylated antibody is visualized with streptavidin, conjugated to an enzyme. As a control for binding and degree of inhibition, various concentrations of the biotinylated monoclonal antibodies diluted with an equal volume of culture medium without the mixture of antibodies or using the non-biotinylated antibody are used in the inhibition ELISA. This method is also suitable to screen the mixture of antibodies at a very early stage after transfection (as in Examples 10 and 11); thus, for each supernatant containing mixtures of antibodies, the presence of individual antibody specificities can be determined.

Example 13. Expression of Three Fab Fragments in the Same Eukaryotic Cell

For making a mix of these three antibodies, the expression experiment described in Example 10 is repeated using the following antibody genes, of the M57, JB and PO1 antibody (the latter is formed by the VH-PO1 and VL-PO1 genes of Example 9). Anti-idiotype reagents are separately selected on M57 and JB whole antibodies using a non-immune antibody library (see, also Example 12). This yields anti-idiotype antibodies that react with either M57 or JB; these antibodies are also tested on the PO1 to confirm specificity for either M57 or JB idiotypes. Similarly, the PO antibody is used in similar selections to obtain an anti-Id reagent for the PO1 binding site. Next, the heavy chains of these three antibodies, M57, JB and PO1, are cloned as VHCH1 fragments into VHExpress while deleting the gamma-1 gene (thus encoding an Fd chain only), yielding pEU-VH-M57, pEU-VH-JB and pEU-VH-PO1. The light chains VL-M57=JB-CL and VL-PO1-CL are cloned into VKexpress (Persic et al. (1997) 187:9-18), while deleting the CK gene from the cassette. First the light chain plasmids are introduced into PER.C6® cells and a clone is selected that stably produces over 2 micrograms/ml of both light chains (using methods described in Example 10). This cell line, designated PL2-2, is subsequently transfected with the three heavy chain containing plasmids, and a large collection of cell lines is obtained that produce a variety of levels of antibody Land Fd chains. The best candidate mixtures are purified on protein G affinity chromatography and tested for binding and composition as described in the previous examples, and also using the anti-Id reagents as described in Example 12. The experiments provide confirmation that multiple Fab fragments, with appropriately paired variable region genes, are expressed as highly functional mixtures.

Example 14. Cloning and Expression of Three Antibodies Directed to Different Antigens as an OLIGOCLONICS® Mixture

Using the methods of the previous examples, antibodies with the same light chain are isolated against three different antigen, TNF-alpha, Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6), using a semi-synthetic library scFv library from Example 7 and described in (de Kruif et al. (1995) J. Mol. Biol. 248:97). In the selection, biotinylated recombinant cytokines (purchased from R&D Systems), are used, at decreasing concentrations during selection (250 nM, 100 nM and 50 nM). From the panels of antibodies generated against each of the targets after three rounds of selection, those scFv antibodies that neutralize the activity of the cytokine are identified. For this, the antibody fragments are recloned into pSCFV and purified using IMAC as in Example 2. Biological assays used are well known to those skilled in the art and include a L929 neutralization assay for TNF-alpha. Neutralizing clones are identified against TNF-alpha, IL-1beta or IL-6. The potency of neutralization can be improved by further affinity maturation techniques. For example, the CDR1 and CDR2 of the VH can be mutagenized and variants selected using phage display and tested for improved neutralization activity. These three antibodies have an identical light chain and have heavy chain variable regions that are distinct from one another, with most changes located in the CDR3.

The antibody variable regions are cloned into the eukaryotic expression described in Example 10, and essentially following the same procedure, CHO-cell lines identified that express mixture of the one light chain and three heavy chains. The analysis of the mixtures is carried out using ELISA to demonstrate binding to three antigens in a subset of the cell lines identified. A clone stably producing all three antibodies in an approximate ratio of heavy chains of 2:1:1 is identified using the techniques described in Examples 10 and 12. The cell lines are expanded and the mixture purified on Protein A and extensively tested to determine its composition. Using ELISA tests in various formats, with indirectly coated biotinylated antigen, with directly coated antigen 1, adding sample, followed by biotinylated antigen 2 and detection with Strep-HRP, and using samples of the mixture that have been depleted on TNF, IL-1beta or IL-6-coated beads, is it shown that the mixture contains three monospecific antibodies and three bispecific antibodies. The exact ratio between these six components is established by using quantitative ELISA tests and by IEF analysis of the mixture, as shown in Example 12. The neutralization efficacy of the mixture for the individual cytokines was confirmed with the assays as tested before. The neutralization of these cytokines in more complex systems, for example, using mixed cell populations, may establish a synergistic effect of the neutralization of these components by the OLIGOCLONICS® mixture.

Example 15. In Vitro Pairing of Antibody Chains Produced in Different Cells to Form Defined Antibody Mixtures

Alternatively, to the expression in one host cell, antibody mixture can also be assembled ex vivo. The chains can be expressed separately and combined with a set of potential partner variable regions for pairing and assembly of the molecule.

In this prophetic example, a mixture of Fab fragments with pairing-compatible variable regions will be made as follows. The heavy chain variable regions of M57, JB and PO1 (Example 9) will first be cloned separately into an appropriate pET expression plasmid, such that this will mediate the expression of the Fd chain tagged with six Histidines inside the E. coli, as inclusion bodies. A suitable vector can be found in Novagen's pET Table, such as pET21d+ (see, also www.novagen.com/Includes/wrapper.asp?href=/SharedImages/Novagen/pETtable.htm&section=TechResources&subsectjon=TechLit&strsubsection=techresources). The cloning will then be carried out by PCR of the VHCH1-containing templates (from Example 9) using oligonucleotides to provide appropriate cloning sites and also the C-terminal Histidine tag. These three plasmids will be introduced into separate E. coli host cells. The expression of the Fd fragments can then be induced and the protein demonstrated to be present in inclusion bodies. The two light chain variable regions, VL-M57=JB and YL-PO1 can also be suitably cloned into a suitable pET vector (although, alternatively, they could be obtained by secretion from a secretion vector like pFab-sol-pbr). After expression of the separate light chains, they should also be retrievable from the intracellular fraction. To assemble the mixture of three functional Fab fragments, the following procedure can then be followed. First the approximate and relative quantities of the individual L or Fd chains is estimated by gel-electrophoresis and Western blot. Then five 50-ml cultures of E. coli carrying one of five antibody variable regions are grown and induced as described in the pET manual from Novagen. After induction and growth, the pelleted cells of each of the chains can be resuspended in 8 ml 8 M urea (in PBS). After sonication, the five suspensions would be mixed in a ratio of approximately 1:1:1:4:2 for VH-M57, VH-JB, VH-PO1, VL-M57=JB, VL-PO1 (thus with a two-fold excess of light chain over heavy chain, and more of the twice needed VL). After this mixing of the denatured heavy and light chain variable regions, the mix will be rotated head over head for two hours. Insoluble material may then be removed by centrifugation for 30 minutes at 13,000×g. The supernatant is dialyzed against PBS with four buffer changes, and insoluble protein further removed by centrifugation. The flow through fraction, obtained by filtration through a 0.2 μm membrane, should contain the refolded antibody mixture with pairing-optimized chains. The mixture may be further concentrated and purified, first using IMAC, which should retrieve all heavy chains and their paired light chains, followed by semi-preparative gel-filtration on a Superdex 75HR column (Pharmacia). The yield may be determined by measuring the optical density at 280 nm (using a molar extinction coefficient of 13 for Fabs). The mixture may be further characterized by analyzing the binding to the Rabies antigen. Since all functional Fabs should bind this antigen, a straightforward capture assay with antigen may be performed to determine the level of functional binding sites. There are many alternative protocols to this procedure, including the use of other extraction methods, other denaturation reagents, renaturation conditions and buffers, etc. Alternatively, to this procedure, both chains may also be secreted, and re-assembled using the conditions described by Figini et al. (1994) J. Mol Biol. 239:68-78.

Example 16. Screening Antibody Mixtures Targeting Murine Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor

The antibodies used in this example are described in WO 03102157A2 (inventors Fuh and Sidhu). The antibodies were derived by in vitro selection of a display library in which only the heavy chain was diversified. The repertoire with a fixed light chain and variable heavy chain was selected on murine vascular endothelial growth factor (mVEGF) and a large panel of antibodies binding mVEGF identified (Sidhu et al., J. Mol. Biol. 2004, 338:299-310). The source of the antibody heavy and light chain variable genes used in the repertoire was the humanized antibody 4D5. Antibody 4D5 is a humanized antibody specific for a cancer-associated antigen known as Her-2 (erbB2). The antibody includes variable domains having consensus framework regions; a few positions were reverted to mouse sequence during the process of increasing affinity of the humanized antibody. The sequence and crystal structure of humanized antibody 4D5 have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,297, Carter et al., PNAS 54:4285 (1992); the variable region sequences of the heavy and light chains are also given in FIGS. 14A and 14B and SEQ ID NO:23 of WO 03102157A2; finally the crystal structure of 4D5 is shown in J. Mol. Biol. 229:969 (1993) and online at www.ncbi.nih.gov/structure, structure 1FVE.

An OLIGOCLONICS® mixture consisting of four different mVEGF-binding antibody binding sites is obtained as follows. Antibodies with clone numbers 4, 69, 73 and 74 as in Table 6, page 306 of Sidhu et al., J. Mol. Biol. 2004, 338:299-310, were selected on the basis of mVEGF binding as scFv on phage and as Fab protein (same Table 6). The antibodies share an identical light chain (of the Herceptin antibody, 4D5; as described in WO 03102157A2), but have differences in their heavy chain amino acid sequence as depicted in Table 6 of this paper.

The h4D5 antibody is a humanized antibody that specifically recognizes a cancer-associated antigen known as HER-2 (ErbB2) developed as described previously. The h4d5 VL gene is obtained by polymerase chain reaction using the humAb4D5 version 8 (“humAMD5-8”; Carter et al. (1992) PNAS 89:4285-4289) sequence and primers engineered to give rise to a 5′ ApaLI site and a 3′ Pact site in the PCR product. The PCR product was cleaved with ApaLI and Pact and ligated into the pABExpress vector (the vector described in Example 11 and in FIG. 23 but without the STAR40 sequence cloned into the EcoRI site). This yields plasmid pAb-4D5-VL, which encodes the expression of a functional 4D5 light chain (with human Ckappa constant region), and contains a polylinker region suitable for cloning VH regions. The VH regions from clones 4, 69, 73 and 74 are then cloned into this vector, using BssHII and BstEII restriction sites, and following the cloning route described in the previous examples (by providing the nucleotides encoding these restriction sites into the PCR primers in such manner that the cloning will yield an in-frame insertion encoding a fully functional antibody variable domain). This yields plasmids pAb-IgG-04, pAb-IgG-69, pAb-IgG-73 and pAb-IgG-74.

These plasmids encoding heavy and light chains are transfected into the human cell line PER.C6® to generate stable cell lines secreting multiple of the mVEGF-binding antibodies. For this, published methods and methods known to persons skilled in the art are used (E. Boel et al. (2000). J. Immunol. Methods, 239:153-166 and WO 00/63403). For the generation of stable PER.C6® cells secreting antibodies, PER.C6® cells are seeded in DMEM plus 10% FCS and in tissue culture dishes (10 cm in diameter) or T80 flasks with approximately 2.5×10⁶ cell per dish or flask and kept overnight in an incubator at 37° C. and 10% CO₂. The next day, transfections are preformed in separate dishes at 37° C. using Lipofectamine (Invitrogen Life Technologies) according to standard protocols provided by the manufacturer. The plasmids pAb-IgG-04, pAb-IgG-69, pAb-IgG-73 and pAb-IgG-74 are mixed in a 1:1:1:1 ratios and used at a concentration of 2.5 μg/ml each. As controls, cells are subjected to the transfection procedure in the absence of plasmids, or with just a single plasmid. After four to five hours, cells are washed twice with DMEM and fed with fresh culture medium. The next day, the culture medium is removed and cells are fed with fresh medium containing 500 μg/ml of the antibiotic G418. Cells are fed every two to three days with culture medium containing 500 μg/ml of G418. After about 20 to 22 days after initiation of the experiment, a large number of colonies is visible and from each transfection, 400 clones are picked and grown individually in 96-well plates and further expanded in 24-well, 6-well and T25 flasks. At this stage, cells are frozen in liquid nitrogen and production levels of recombinant immunoglobulin are determined in an ELISA according to standard procedures (e.g., E. Boel et al. (2000), J. Immunol. Methods, 239:153-166 and WO 00/63403). At this stage of the culture procedure, G418 is no longer added to the culture medium.

To establish the presence of at least one functional anti-mVEGF antibody in a clone's culture supernatant, a solid phase ELISA is performed. Plates (PolySorb™, Nunc) are coated with 2.5 μg/ml of mVEGF (R&D Systems, recombinant Mouse VEGF120 and VEG164, both carrier free) diluted in PBS and 100 μl/well overnight at 4° C. The plates are then blocked with 2% BSA in PBS for two hours and washed in PBS containing 0.05% TWEEN®-20 (PBS-TWEEN®) prior to the addition of cell supernatant samples containing antibodies. Following incubation at room temperature for two hours, the plates are washed with PBS-TWEEN® to remove unbound antibody present in the supernatant samples. Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-human IgG is then added in PBS for one hour at room temperature and the plates are subsequently washed with PBS-TWEEN® (2×) and PBS (2×). Detection of secondary antibody is performed according to standard procedures and the absorbance determined spectrophotometrically (see, also previous examples). It is found that of the 400 clones screened, a substantial fraction produces a minimal IgG quantity.

Since only a limited number of colonies secrete a mixture of the four mVEGF antibodies, 50 clones selected from the initial panel of approximately 400, that are strongly reactive in the IgG-ELISA, clonality is further established by subcloning under limiting dilution. Picked and expanded colonies are seeded in a 96-well plate at a concentration of 0.3 cells/well in DMEM with 10% FCS and expanded. Colonies of cells are processed as described above and are referred to as subclones. While the initial transfection experiment used a ratio of DNA for the four plasmids pAb-IgG-04, pAb-IgG-69, pAb-IgG-73 and pAb-IgG-74 of 1:1:1:1, the cell subclones still display a variety in the expression levels for each of the antibodies. This is due to their independent expression regulation and their random integration into the genome. Further, since the same selection marker is used on all plasmids, the subclones express at the most four antibody binding sites, but not necessarily all four of them. The precise number depends on the transfection experiment; approximately 20-30% of the Ig-reactive clones express multiple antibody heavy chains, and of these, approximately 20% express more than two antibody heavy chains. The methods to increase these frequencies have been described earlier herein.

Screening to find the most optimal mixture of these four mVEGF-binding antibodies, as OLIGOCLONICS® mixture with bivalent and bispecific components, is done as follows. Optimal mixture here means with regards to which of the four antibody binding sites are optimally present in the mixture, and at which ratio they should be present. For the 50 subclones as well as for one IgG-reactive clone from the control transfectants made with just one antibody encoding plasmid, larger volumes are cultured to purify the recombinant human IgG1 fraction from the conditioned supernatant. This is done using Protein A affinity column chromatography according to standard procedures (Ed Harlow and David Lane, Using Antibodies, A Laboratory Manual, 1999, ISBN: 0879695447). These mixtures and the monoclonal antibody controls are tested for their neutralization activity on mVEGF in a ³H-thymidine incorporation assay using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (Conn et al., 1990, Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. U.S.A. 87:1323-1327). The inhibitory activity of each of the mixtures is compared to the inhibitory capacity of the four individual monoclonal antibodies. Mixtures that display a higher inhibitory activity on a molar basis compared to the activity of the monoclonal antibody controls putatively contain multiple antibodies that in combination mediate a synergic effect on the activity of VEGF. Next, assays that indicate the binding to mVEGF, the affinity of the interaction of the mix, the competition in binding with receptor (Flt-1 and KDR-1), are used. A binding assay is described above (solid phase ELISA). Assays to determine the relative affinity of the mixes are described in Sidhu et al., J. Mol. Biol. 2004, 338:299-310, page 308 (affinity measurements by competitive ELISA), with Fab and phage-displayed antibodies replaced with the mixtures of antibodies or the monoclonal antibodies as controls. An increase in relative affinity indicates a strong synergistic activity between the antibodies in the mixture, as described in Marks, Movelent Disorders, vol. 19, suppl. 8, 2004, p. S101-S108, for antibody mixtures binding to nonoverlapping epitopes of botulinum neurotoxins. Other assays to demonstrate the activity of the mixture of the antibodies on VEGF either in vivo or in vitro, are well established in the field and are, for example, described in WO 03102157A2, EP 0666868B1 and WO0044777A1.

Since VEGF displays activities in many processes, including mitogenesis, angiogenesis, endothelial cell survival, induction of metalloproteinases and growth factors, regulation of permeability/flow, recruitment of endothelial progenitor cells etc, any other single assays or combinations of assays can be used to determine the effect of the antibody mixtures on the activity of VEGF. The antibody mixtures can be screened in any of these assays, or combinations of assays, to find those compositions that have an effect in a defined set of assays, or have an effect in one but not in another assay. Further or instead of the in vitro assays, in vivo assays can be used to measure the overall effect of the antibody mixture on the pharmacokinetics of the antigen, and demonstrate improved clearance as mechanism of the synergic activity of the multiple antibodies in the OLIGOCLONICS® mixture.

Mixtures are further characterized biochemically to find which antibodies are present and in which ratio, as described in Example 12.

Example 17: Pairing-Compatible Antibodies for Producing a Mixture of HER2/ErbB2-Targeting Molecules

Trastuzumab (Herceptin, or h4D5, or hu4D5, see Example 16) and pertuzumab (Omnitarg, humanized 2C4) are both recombinant monoclonal antibodies that target different extracellular regions of the HER-2 tyrosine kinase receptor. Recently, it was shown that these antibodies synergistically inhibit the survival of breast cancer cells in vitro (Nahta et al., Cancer Research 64:2343-2346, 2004). Herceptin is active against HER-2 overexpressing metastatic breast cancers, leading to its approval in 1998 by the US FDA. In contrast to Herceptin, pertuzumab sterically blocks HER-2 dimerization with other HER receptors and blocks ligand-activated signaling from HER-2/EGFR and HER-2/HER-3 heterodimers. On the other hand, trastuzumab blocks ErbB2 shedding while pertuzumab does not. Mixtures of antibodies directed to the same target antigen but that display different or non-overlapping mechanisms of action will be very valuable in the therapeutic arsenal, and production of such multiple antibodies in a commercial manner will become very important. In this example, described is how pairing-compatible versions of these two antibodies are isolated, and used to build an OLIGOCLONICS® with an expected increase in potency and efficacy in tumor cell killing compared to the original monoclonal antibodies.

Anti-HER2 antibodies 4D5 and 2C4 are described in WO 0100245A2 and in Fendly et al., Cancer Research 50:1550-1558 (1990). The molecular structure and sequence of the humanized version of antibody 2C4 is described in Vajdos et al., J. Mol. Biol. 2002, 320, 415-428, in PDB database reference 1L7I, and in WO 0100245A2 (version 574 in Table 2 on page 54, or rhuMAb2C4 in continuation of this document). For simplicity here “2C4” is used to indicate the humanized version 574 of the murine 2C4 antibody. Its structure, in complex with the first three domains of ErbB2, was recently published (Franklin et al., Cancer Cell, 5, 2004, 317-328. The structure and sequence of h4D5 or Herceptin was described by Cho et al., Nature 2003, 421, 756-760, and is deposited as 1N8Z in the PDB database. Outside of the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), pertuzumab is identical in sequence to trastuzumab (Carter et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 4285-4289, 1992); consequently, the local structure of the pertuzumab Fab in the ErbB2-pertuzumab complex is expected to be largely the same as that of the trastuzumab Fab. To build a pairing-compatible single light chain that will restore a functional binding site when paired with the h4D5 VH but also when paired with the 2C4 VH, the following route is followed.

Designing pairing-compatible light chains: The amino acid differences between the light chains of hu4D5v8 (the humanization variant described by Kelly et al., 1992, supra, indicated by hu4D5 or h4D5 in the next section) and 2C4 have been mapped to be 11 residues as highlighted in FIG. 23. In the CDR regions of the light chains, there are four differences in CDR1, three in CDR2 and four in CDR3. In most straight forward to follow in the absence of structural data on the antibodies and their interaction with antigen, is to build a library of light chain that have been diversified at these positions, and screen or select for variant light chain that maintain antigen-binding behavior when paired with the heavy chains of both antibodies, h4D5 and 2C4. The diversification can be chosen to contain all possible 20 amino acids or a subset thereof, for example, all residues but cysteine (which is not normally occurring at these 11 positions), or a selected set of amino acids that frequently occurs in antibodies at these positions. The design of a light chain repertoire based on all 11 amino acid differences between h4D5 and 2C4 is given in FIG. 23, in line HYB1.

A second approach to build a pairing-compatible variable hybrid light chain region for two antibodies, is to further employ structural information on the interaction of the antibodies with their respective antigen or antigens. In the example of h4D5 and 2C5, a wealth of structure-function information is available to guide the design of a hybrid light chain library. In this design, HYB2 in FIG. 23, all the light chains in the designed repertoire retain all of the common residues between the two original light chains of hu4D5 and 2C4, and a selection of residues at the positions where the original two light chains differ in composition, in which the selection is based on structural information on the antibody-antigen interaction. While some of the design may be based on this information, it is also noted that point mutations of h4D5 have been shown to dramatically effect the biological behavior of the antibody. The antiproliferative activities of the humanized variants of 4D5, which differ only in maximally seven amino acid residues, were found not to be strongly correlated with antigen affinity (Kelley et al., 1992, supra). Thus, it will be required to sample multiple versions of pairing-compatible light chains, and test the biological activity of the combinations after the antigen-selection and binding characterization to ensure maintenance of the biological activity.

The following HYB2 library design was made, based on the following observations:

CDR1. The sequence plasticity of the antigen-binding site of Herceptin was analyzed in a study by Gerstner et al. (J. Mol. Biol. 2002, 321:851-862). From these studies it appears that for trastuzumab residues N30 may be readily replaced by Serine (Table 1, Class 1 mutation VL30, of Gerstner et al., supra). Serine is the residue used at this position by 2C4. Thus, the pairing-compatible hybrid light chain is designed to contain Ser at position 30. The rest of the CDR1 is taken from the Herceptin light chain, as this region appears to be irrelevant for antigen binding in 2C4 (Franklin et al., supra).

CDR2. By alanine-scanning and homolog-scanning of the Fab2C4 antibody it was revealed that most of the side-chains that contribute to antigen binding are located in the heavy chain (Vajdos et al., supra). This was recently confirmed by the crystal structure of the antibody in complex with antigen: the light chain of pertuzumab Fab makes only a few contacts with ErbB2, mostly via CDR L2 (possibly via residue 55) and some via L3 (Franklin et al., supra). Some of 2C4's residues in this region may be converted to h4D5's residues without loss of affinity, as suggested by experiments with humanized versions of 2C4 described in WO 0100245A2 (page 54), in particular, what may be possible is to choose h4D5's VL's residues at positions 54 and 56. The Phe at position 53 in Herceptin appears to be relatively conserved, with some presence of Trp, while the other positions in this CDR region were not tested. Since some of these CDR2-based residues may also be important for positioning neighboring heavy-chain-based residues for antigen binding, in the hybrid light chain design, the three residues which are different between h4D5 and 2C4 are diversified fully, such that the selection process can identify which of the 8000 combinations will yield a pairing-compatible light chain.

CDR3. Tyrosine 91 of 2C4 is said to be important for antigen binding (Franklin et al., supra) but its substitution with phenylalanine (F) is acceptable (Vajdos et al., supra). Herceptin at this position in the light chain besides its original residue histidine tolerates several other aromatic side chains including Phe, Tyr and Trp (Table 1, page 854 in Gerstner et al., supra). Thus, the hybrid light chain is designed to contain Phe at position 91 (FIG. 23). For 2C4 antigen binding of the other residues of the H3 loop is relatively resistant to mutagenesis as in Gerstner et al., with the exception of the Pro at position 95. But this residue is shared between the Herceptin and 2C4 antibody light chains. In the interaction of Herceptin with antigen there are more likely interactions of the CDR3 regions with antigen, thus in the hybrid light chain, all but residue 91 is taken from Herceptin-VL (FIG. 23).

In the final HYB2 design, amino acids are taken for 6 out of 11 positions from the h4D5 VL, 1 out of 11 from the 2C4 VL (pos. 30), one is a residue not found in either VL (pos. 91) and the three are to be randomized (in CDR2).

HYB1 Library Construction and Selection of Pairing-Compatible VLs

The two libraries of light chains are constructed as follows. In the HYB1-designed VL library, 11 residues are randomized, implying that the total theoretical amino acid diversity (20exp11) is much larger than can be readily screened. To sample the diversity in this library, a powerful selection method is, therefore, used. The heavy chains (VH) of h4D5 and 2C4 are cloned into the SfiI-BstEII cloning sites from pCES1 (de Haard et al., 1999, J. Biol. Chem. 274, 18218-30) using PCR and oligonucleotides binding to the 5′ and 3′ end of the nucleotide sequences of the VH genes and introducing SfiI and BstEII sites at appropriate sites for in-frame cloning (as described for antibody VH genes in de Haard et al., supra; the BstEII site is already present in the JH region of both h4D5-VH and 2C4-VH). The template for the PCR of the VH of h4D5 is plasmid pAK19 carrying the humanized 4D5 variant number 8, hu4D5-8, described in Kelly et al., 1992, Biochemistry 31:5435-5441, Table 1. The nucleotide sequence of this clone is essentially described in Carter et al. 1992, P.N.A.S., 89:4285-4289, in FIG. 1, as huMAb4D5-5, with two alterations (V102Y in CDR3 of the VH, and E55Y in CDR2 of VL, as described in Kelly et al., 1992, supra). The VH sequence can also be extracted as SfiI-BstEII fragment from SEQ ID NO:119 as described below. The template for the PCR reaction of the VH of 2C4 is plasmid pC2C4, described on page 425 of Vajdos et al., supra. The VH sequence can also be extracted from the NcoI-BstEII insertion inside the larger BssHII-NotI-fragment from SEQ ID NO:119. The cloning of the PCR products into pCES1 is carried out as described for human antibody heavy chain VH pools and using standard cloning procedures. pCES1 is a phagemid vector that is suitable for the expression of Fab fragments in E. coli and for the display of Fab fragments on the surface of filamentous phage (de Haard et al., 1999, supra). Two plasmids with correct insert are identified by sequencing the insertion and junction region and the resulting plasmids named pCES-VH-h4D5 and pCES-VH-2C4. These are the acceptor plasmids for the light chain repertoire, HYB1. The VLCL coding region of hu4D5v8 is amplified using specific oligonucleotides priming in its 5′ and 3′ region and introducing ApaLI and AscI restriction sites as described in de Haard et al., supra, for human VLCL chains. As template pAK19 carrying the humanized 4D5 variant number 8 (hu4D5-8, described in Kelly et al., 1992, Biochemistry 31:5435-5441, Table 1) is used. The PCR product is cloned as ApaLI-AscI fragment in pCES-WI-h4D5, to yield pCES-Fab-h4D5. This encodes a functional h4D5 Fab fragment. HYB1 is produced using described methods with “stop” template versions of this plasmid. The stop template version is made by replacing one codon in each of the CDR1, CDR2 and CDR3 of the hu4D5-v8-VL with TAA stop codons. Methods to diversify the VL-template have been extensively described in the literature including in WO 03102157A2, in Directed Mutagenesis, a Practical Approach, Ed. M. J. McPerson, IRL Press 1991. The method used here is the Kunkel method; this yields the stop template of the VL in plasmid pCES-Fab-h4D5-3ST. The stop template version of h4D5-VL is used as a template for the Kunkel mutagenesis method (Kunkel et al. 1987, Methods in Enzymol. 154:367-382), using mutagenic oligonucleotides designed to simultaneously repair the stop codons and introduce mutations at the designed sites. Mutations in all three CDRs of the VL are introduced simultaneously in a single mutagenesis reaction. This is extensively described in Sidhu et al. 2000, Methods Enzymol. 328:333-363. The mutagenesis reaction is electroporated into E. coli SS320 (Sidhu et al., supra), and the transformed cells are grown overnight in the presence of M13-VCS helper phage to produce phage particles that encapsulated the phagemid DNA and displayed Fab fragments on their surfaces. Methods for phage-display library manipulation, selection and screening of clones have been described in the literature, for example, see de Haard et al., supra; Vajdos et al., supra and also the other examples). The resulting 4D5-HYB1 library contains greater than 1×10⁸ unique members. This 4D5-HVB1 library is selected twice on HER2 antigen as described in Vajdos et al., supra, to yield a population of more than 65% of antibodies with antigen-binding activity. These antibodies share their VH region, but most carry different light chains. The light chains of this population are obtained as ApaLI-AscI fragment (VLCL), and cloned as a pool into pCES-VH-2C4. This new library now contains a subset of the light chains of HYB1 that are likely to be compatible with antigen binding in the context of h4D5. The library is selected once on antigen, and clones identified that mediate antigen binding. Light chains with identical amino acid sequence and that mediate antigen-binding when paired with the h4D5-VH and with the 2C4-VH are identified by sequencing a panel of Ag-reactive clones from the selected h4D5-HYB1 library, and of Ag-reactive clones from the selected 2C4 sublibrary, and comparing the sequences. Besides using antigen-reactivity in phage ELISA as readout, the reactivity of the Fab fragments is tested in ELISA (as described in de Haard et al., supra). This leads to the identification of a panel of VLs that display are functionally pair with both VH-h4D5 as well as VH-2C4. Within the panel the best VL is identified by determining the affinity of the interaction and the biological activity of the two respective Fab fragments. Methods for affinity determination and biological activity of anti-HER2 Fabs are described in Kelley et al., 1992, supra, and Gerstner et al., 2002, supra, and are described further below.

HYB2 library construction and screening of pairing-compatible VLs: The HYB2-designed VL library contains 8000 variants only. Here a different route is followed to allow simultaneous expression, and detection of antigen-binding variants, of h4D5 and 2C4 WI containing antibodies. First, the VL in pCES-Fab-h4D5 is mutated by Kunkel site-directed mutagenesis (Kunkel et al., supra) with Asparagine 30 changed to Serine (N30S), and Histidine 91 changed to Phenylalanine (H91F), according to the design depicted in FIG. 23. Of the resulting clone, p4D5-VLmut, phage and Fab are produced and tested for binding in a dilutions series for binding to Her-2 (extra-cellular domain) coated plate phage ELISA, to confirm that h4D5 maintains a minimal antigen-reactivity. Next a stop-template version is made from this plasmid, by replacing one codon in the CDR2 of the VL with a TAA stop codon (residue 55, tyrosine is mutated from “tat” to “taa”; this residue is said to be required in order to attain the antigen affinity of the humanized h4D5 antibody, Kelley et al., 1992, supra, thus will need to be fixed to “Y” to restore the reading frame and antigen-binding), This stop template version of the light chain of h4D5v8 is cloned into pSCFV-3 (Example 2 and FIG. 14B), by amplification of the VLCL region from the CDR2 stop-template. The design of the oligonucleotides used in this amplification is such that the whole VLCL segment is amplified and that after digestion the segment can be directionally cloned for in frame expression of the light chain under control of the arabinose promoter of pSCFV-3, and without any C-terminal tags. Briefly the VLCL is amplified with primers binding to the 5′ and 3′ end of the cassette and at the 5′ providing a long overhang in two PCR reactions to encode a region of approximately 90 nucleotides encoding ribosome binding sites, start codon and bacterial leader sequence, to produce an EcoRV-EcoRI fragment that is cloned into the PacI-EcoRI sites bordering the third expression cassette in pSCFV-3. This plasmid, pVLmutST, is used as acceptor for the two heavy chains, after an internal BstEII site at position 143 of the insert was removed. The sequence of the final PacI-EcoRI insert is given in SEQ ID NO:118. The heavy chains 2C4 and h4D5v8 are cloned in two steps as VH-CH1 fragments into pSCFV-3 (FIG. 14B) to yield plasmid p2Fab-HER2 as indicated in FIG. 24. First the h4D5 VHCH1 region is amplified from pCES-WI-h4D5 and cloned as SfiI-BssHII fragment into pVLmutST. The design of the primers is such that they, after cloning, arrange appropriate reading frames with leaders and tags in pSCFV3, to yield the final junctional sequences as depicted in SEQ ID NO:119. Second, the 2C4 heavy chain VHCH1 is amplified from pCES-VH-2C4 and cloned as BssHII-NotI fragment into this plasmid. Similarly, the design of the primers is such that they, after cloning, arrange appropriate reading frames with leaders and tags in pSCFV3, to yield the final junctional sequences as depicted in SEQ ID NO:119. This final plasmid, p2Fab-Her2, provides the expression of both heavy chain variable domains as Fd chains (linked to human gamma-1), and the expression of a yet stop codon containing light chain. The sequence of the HindIII-NotI and PacI-EcoRI inserts of p2Fab-HER2 is given in SEQ ID NOS:119 and 118, respectively. The heavy chains of the two humanized antibodies, h4D5-version 8 and 2C4-version 574 are provided as fusions to the human CH1 domain, the Myc and VSV tag, respectively, and a HIS-tag for IMAC purification. The light chain in format VLCL is essentially derived from h4D5 but carries two designed VL mutations at positions 30 and 91, a stop codon in the CDR2, and has an internal BstEII site removed without amino acid change.

Plasmid p2Fab-HER2 is used as a template for the Kunkel mutagenesis method (Kunkel et al. 1987, Methods in Enzymol. 154:367-382), using mutagenic oligonucleotides designed to simultaneously repair the stop codon in the VL-CDR2 and introduce mutations at the three designed sites in CDR2, as indicated in FIG. 23. After electroporation and plating (as before), a small library of 50,000 clones is screened for pairing-compatible VL versions as follows. In the plasmid p2Fab-HER2, all three variable region genes are linked to a unique epitope tag that provides a way for their specific detection. Individual clones are picked into 96-well plates (Nunc) and induced to express both heavy chains and the one light chain, using conditions as described in Example 4, with the exception that arabinose is also added as inducer at the same time as the IPTG. The next day the supernatant of the cultures is tested for the presence of HER2 reactive Fabs, in an ELISA essentially as in Example 4. Multiple assays are carried out with the same sample, using either anti-myc or anti-VSV secondary reagents to detect the presence of the h4D5-Fab or the 2C4-Fab, respectively.

A dual-reactive clone designated 3-8E3, which binds HER-2 in ELISA with both the anti-VSV and anti-Myc tag reagents, is chosen for further analysis. The Fab mixture of this clone is expressed to 10-L scale level and purified from E. coli Supernatants according to Kelley et al., 1992, supra, page 5435-5436. Briefly, the culture supernatant is microfiltered by tangential flow filtration, concentrated by ultrafiltration and filtered over DEAE-Sepharose-FF. The antibody mixture in the flow-through fraction is subjected to affinity chromatography on Protein-G-Sepharose-FF. The Fab mixture is eluted with 0.1 M glycine, pH 3.0. The total protein concentration is determined by A₂₈₀ measurements using an ∈₂₈₀ of 67 mM⁻¹ cm⁻¹.

The binding constant of individual Fabs or the apparent binding constant of the Fab mix are measured by ELISA essentially as described by Vajdos et al., 2002, supra, on page 426. Briefly, NUNC 96-well maxisorb immunoplates are coated overnight at 4° C. with HER2-ECD (1 microgram/ml in 50 mM carbonate buffer, pH 9.6), and the plates blocked for one hour at room temperature with 0.5% BSA in PBS-0.05% TWEEN®-20. Serial dilutions of Fab protein are incubated on the HER2-ECD coated plates for two hours at room temperature, and the plates washed. Bound Fab is detected with biotinylated murine anti-human kappa chain antibody following by streptavidin—horseradish peroxidase conjugate (Sigma), using 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethyl benzidine (TMB) as substrate (Kirsgaard and Perry Laboratories, Gaithersburg, Md.). The actual binding constant of one Fab in the mixture of two Fabs is measured by replacing the biotinylated murine anti-human kappa chain antibody of the above test with biotinylated anti-MYC-tag (for h4D5) or biotinylated anti-VSV tag (for 2C4) antibodies (antibodies similar to those described in Example 2). Titration curves are fit with a four-parameter non-linear regression curve-fitting program (KaledaGraph, Synergy Software) to determine the EC50 values, the Fab concentrations corresponding to half-maximal binding signals. Examples for h4D5, 2C4 and the 3-8E3 mixture is given in FIG. 25. The 3-8E3 mix is confirmed to contain two functional Fab antibody fragments, h4D5* and 2C4*, in which the * indicates that the light chain variable region is different from the two original humanized light chains of h4D5 and 2C4 (in FIG. 24), The ratio of the two Fab antibodies that are present in the 3-8E3 mix is analyzed by electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry essentially as described in Kelley et al., 1992, supra. There is a difference in the molecular weights of the Fabs on the basis of the heavy chains of 2C4 and h4D5 differing in approximately 68 dalton, well above the standard deviation of the assay (in the range of three to seven dalton).

The biological activity of the Fab mixtures is compared with that of the individual monoclonal Fab fragments. The growth inhibitory characteristics are evaluated using the breast cancer cell line, SK-BR-3 (see, Hudziak et al., 1989, Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:1165-1172), using the assay conditions described on page 50 of WO 0100245A2. An exemplary graph in FIG. 25 shows the growth inhibition curves for h4D5 Fab and mixtures of 4D5* and 2C4* (see, Example 17) that utilize different pairing-compatible light chains, indicated with VL1 to VL7. The Fabs are further evaluated for their ability to inhibit HRG-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins in the Mr 180,000 range from whole-cell lysates of MCR7 cells, which are known to express all known ErbB receptors (as in WO 0100245A2, page 50-51). As a control, 2C4 as Fab is used; this antibody is very effective in disrupting the formation of the high affinity HER2/HER3 binding site on MCF7 cells.

Once the activity of the Fabs in the mixture confirmed, the selected, pairing-compatible VL of 3-8E3, is used to build an OLIGOCLONICS® of the IgG format, essentially as described in the previous Example 10. This results in the production of 30 cell clones each producing a mixture of the bivalent h4D5* and 2C4* antibodies, and the bispecific combination; the IgGs are purified from the cell supernatants by protein A column chromatography as described above, and the concentration of the total IgG present in the mixtures determined. The biological activity of the resulting IgG-mixtures is tested as in Nahta et al., Cancer Research 64:2343-2346 (2004), using a growth inhibition assay of BT474 breast cancer cells as described on page 2343 of this paper. Briefly BT474 cells are treated in triplicate with two-fold serial dilutions of the IgG mixtures in the range of 0.1 to 25 ng/ml. After five days, cells are trypsinized and counted by trypan blue exclusion. The growth inhibition is calculated as the fraction of viable cells compared with untreated cultures. As controls, the original antibodies hu4D5-v8 (trastuzumab) and 2C4 (Pertuzumab) are used, as well as a 1:1 mixture of these monoclonal antibodies. The mixture with the most synergic activity between the two binding sites is identified based on the dose-effect plots as described in the legend of FIG. 1 on page 2344 in Nahta et al., 2004, supra. Other tests to confirm the synergistic activity are described in this paper (in vitro tests: apoptosis induction, Akt signaling), in WO 0100245 A2 (in vitro tests and in vivo tests, such as human tumor xenograft models described in Examples 5 to 7 and in FIGS. 10 to 13) and in Franklin et al., 2004, supra (in vitro HER2/HER3 heterodimerization using COS7 transfected cells).

Other examples of antibodies that can be combined with one or both of these anti-ErbB2 antibodies are antibodies with pairing-compatible chains that function as an anti-angiogenic agent (e.g., an anti-VEGF antibody); target the EGF-receptor (or ErbB1; e.g., C225 or ZD1839); or that are anti-ErbB2 antibody that strongly induce apoptosis, such as 7C2 or 7F3 (WO 0100245 A2). Pairing-compatible light chains are identified using the methods described herein.

Example 18. Pairing-Compatible Antibodies to Produce a Mixture of Hepatocyte Growth Factor/Scatter Factor (HGF/SF)-Targeting Antibodies that Block Multiple Biological Activities

HGF/SF is a ligand that binds to the Met receptor tyrosine kinase. HGF/SF is composed of an α chain containing the N-terminal domain and four kringle domains covalently di-sulfide linked to the β chain. Binding of HGF/SF to the Met receptor tyrosine kinase induces multiple biological activities, including cell proliferation and cell invasion, and outgrowth of blood vessels (angiogenesis). In addition, binding of HGF/SF to Met prevents programmed cell death (reviewed in C. Birchmeier et. al. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 4:915-925 (2004). The Met receptor is expressed by many solid tumors and Met-HGF/SF signaling has been shown to be involved in tumor development, invasion and metastasis (J. M. Cherrington et al., Adv. Cancer. Res. 79:1-38 (2000); S. Rong et al., Mol. Cell Biol. 12, 5152-5158 (1992).

Monoclonal antibodies against HGF/SF have been produced to study their capacity to block the diverse biological activities of HGF/SC (B. Cao et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 98, 7443-7448 2001). The antibodies were produced by immunizing mice with human HGF/SF and generating hybridomas secreting monoclonal antibodies. The polyclonal serum from mice immunized with HGF/SC showed potent neutralizing activity of all biologic activities of HGF/SF. In contrast a large panel of monoclonal antibodies that bind to the human HGF/SCF was shown to lack the capacity to completely block all biological activities of HGF/SC (B. Cao et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 98, 7443-7448 2001). Combinations of two anti-HGF/SF monoclonal antibodies still lacked full blocking activity while several mixtures of three monoclonal antibodies potently neutralized all HGF/SF activity in in vitro assays. It was concluded that blocking of the biological activities of HGF/SF requires the simultaneous binding of multiple monoclonal antibodies against different epitopes of the HGF/SF ligand (B. Cao et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 98, 7443-7448 2001).

Mixtures of monoclonal antibodies directed against the same target molecule that block the complete spectrum of biological activities of the molecule are very valuable contributions to the therapeutic arsenal, especially when such blocking activities can not be achieved with monoclonal antibodies. Production of such multiple antibodies in a pharmaceutical manner and in a commercially viable way will become very important. In this example, described is how mixtures of monoclonal antibodies against the HGF/SF ligand are isolated and used to construct an OLIGOCLONICS® that efficiently blocks all biological activities of this ligand.

Phage antibody scFv or Fab libraries that are formed by focusing the diversity in one variable region and keeping the other variable region invariable, for example a germ line sequence, are particularly relevant. From such libraries it is feasible to isolate antibodies with a different heavy chain yet identical light chain, or vice versa (FIG. 3). Such antibodies are readily reformatted into an OLIGOCLONICS® format. In the art, it has been described that antibodies that share the same VL gene but have different VH genes and widely varying specificities can be obtained from phage antibody display libraries (Nissim et al. (1994), EMBO J. 13:692-698). A sub-library of the semi-synthetic scFv library (de Kruif et al. (1995) J. Mol. Biol. 248:97) described in Example 7 is used to select antibodies against recombinant human HGF/SF.

The HGF/SF ligand is produced and purified from S-114 cells (NIH 3T3 cells transformed with human HGF/SF and Met) as described (S. Rong et al. (1993) Cell Growth Differ. 4, 563-569). For phage selections, 96-well plates are coated with 2.5 μg/ml HGF/SF in coating buffer (0.2 M Na₂CO₃/NaHCO₃, pH 9.6; 50 μl per well) overnight at 4° C. The plates were then blocked with PBS containing 1% BSA (200 μl/well) overnight at 4° C. Selections of phages binding to human HGF/SF are performed as described in the previous examples. The binding of phages selected from the library is monitored by a HGF/SF ELISA using 96-well plates coated with 2.5 μg/ml HGF/SF in coating buffer (0.2 M Na₂CO₃/NaHCO₃, pH 9.6; 50 μl per well) overnight at 4° C. The plates are then blocked with PBS containing 1% BSA (200 μl/well) overnight at 4° C.

The VH regions from individual monoclonal antibodies and the single VL region are cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector for human monoclonal antibodies as described in Example 10 and subsequently introduced into eukaryotic CHO cells by transfection. For each transfection, the plasmids encoding two or more different VH regions are mixed in various ratios and used at a concentration of 1 to 10 μg/ml. Clones secreting human antibodies are generated essentially as described in Example 10 and the supernatants monitored for HGF/SF-specific antibodies with an ELISA in 96-well plates coated with HGF/SF as described in the previous paragraph. Supernatants from clones secreting anti-HGF/SF antibodies are used to determine the capacity of mixtures to block the biological activities of HGF/SF.

Supernatants from transfectants are screened for neutralizing HGF/SF capacity in the Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) scatter assay as described (B. Cao et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA, 98, 7443-7448 2001). MDCK cells are plated at 7.5×10⁴ cells per 100 μl per well with or without HGF (5 ng/well) in DMEM with 5% FBS. Three hundred microliters of supernatants at two-fold serial dilutions is then added to 96-well plates. A rabbit polyclonal-neutralizing antiserum (1 μl/well; ref S. Koochekpour et. al. (1997) Cancer Res. 57, 5391-5398) is included as control. Following overnight incubation at 37° C., cells are then stained with 0.5% crystal violet in 50% ethanol (vol/vol) for ten minutes at room temperature, and scattering is viewed using a light microscope.

Supernatants from transfectants are also screened for neutralizing HGF/SF capacity in the Branching Morphogenesis Assay as described. Branching morphogenesis assay using SK-LMS-1 cells was conducted as described (M. Jeffers et al. (1996) Mol. Cell. Biol. 16, 1115-1125). Briefly, cell suspensions are mixed with an equal volume of GFR-Matrigel (Becton Dickinson), plated at 5×10⁴ cells per 125 μl per well in a 96-well culture plate, and incubated for 30 minutes at 37° C. HGF/SF, with or without neutralizing mAbs, is added along with DMEM containing 10% FBS on top of the gel. After 72 to 96 hours of incubation at 37° C., representative wells are photographed at ×400 magnification.

Example 19. Pairing-Compatible Antibodies to Produce a Mixture of Antibodies that Block Vascular Endothelial Cell Growth Factor Receptor 1 (VEGF-R1) and VEGF-R2

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key regulator of angiogenic processes during adult life such as wound healing, diabetic retinopathy, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory disorders and tumor growth and metastasis (N. Ferrara et. al., Curr Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 237-1-30 (1999); M. Klagsbrun et al., Cytokine Rev. 7, 259-270 (1996); G. Neufeld et al. FASEB J. 13, 9-22 (1999)). VEGF binds to and mediates its activity mainly through two tyrosine kinase receptors, VEGF-R1 (also named Flt-1) and VEGF-R-2 (also named KDR). Numerous studies have shown that overexpression of VEGF and its receptors plays a role in associated-associated angiogenesis and hence in tumor growth and metastasis (J. Folkman, J. Nat. Med. 1, 27-31 (1995); Z. Zhu et. al., Invest. New Drugs 17, 195-212 (1999)).

A human anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody binding to VEGF and blocking its binding to the VEGF-R1 has recently been approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (www.fda.gov/cder/foi/appletter/2004/1250851tr.pdf). This shows that monoclonal antibodies that block angiogenesis provide an important tool in the treatment of solid tumors.

In WO 04003211 A1, Zhu describes bispecific antibodies with one part of the molecule blocking the binding of VEGF to VEGF-R1 and another part of the molecule blocking binding of VEGF to VEGF-R2. In addition, the bi-specific antibody prevents the homodimerization of the VEGF receptors and thus blocking VEGF-R-mediated cellular signaling. Compared to binding to a single VEGF-R, dual binding can result in more potent inhibition of VEGF-stimulated cellular functions such as, for example, proliferation of endothelial cells. The bispecific antibodies described by Zhu comprise single chain Fv antibody fragments fused to the heavy and light chain constant regions of an IgG molecule. Because of the nature of the bispecific molecules, they can be expected to be immunogenic upon injection in humans, impeding their clinical effectiveness. Mixtures of human antibodies as represented in the OLIGOCLONICS® format that block both the VEGF-R1 and VEGR-R2 while retaining optimal clinical efficacy may be an important addition to the arsenal of anti-solid tumor drugs. Such an OLIGOCLONICS® is obtained as follows:

The soluble fusion protein VEGF-R2 fused to alkaline phosphatase (VEGF-R2-AP) is expressed in stably-transfected NIH 3T3 cells and purified from cell culture supernatant by affinity chromatography as described (D. Lu et al., J. Biol. Chem. 275, 14321-14330 (2000)). VEGF-R1-Fc fusion protein is purchased from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, Minn.). VEGF-R2-AP is coated to Maxisorp Star tubes plates at a concentration of 10 μg/ml and subsequently, the tubes are blocked with 3% milk/PBS as described in WO 003211 and D. Lu et al., Cancer Res. 61:7002-7008 (2001). The phage library used for selection of scFv antibody fragments specific for VEGF-R2 contains a single light chain and is diversified in the heavy chain as described in the previous Example 7. Selection of phages is carried out as described in the previous examples. The specificity of selected scFv antibody fragments is determined in ELISA with 10 μg/ml VEGF-R2-AP coated to Maxisorp 96-well plates and scFv binding, washing and detection steps as described in the previous examples. As a control for binding to the AP moiety, scFv are assayed for binding to a control AP fusion proteins such as ELF2-AP (GenHunter Corp., Nashvffle, Tn). Selection of phages binding to the VEGF-R1 is carried out by coating Maxisorp Star tubes with 10 μg/ml VEGF-R1-Fc and performing rounds of selection as described in the previous examples. The specificity of selected scFv is analyzed in ELISA with 10 μg/ml VEGF-R1-Fc coated to 96-well plates. As a control for binding to the Fc portion VEGF-R1-Fc, plates are coated with the Fc fusion protein rhsThy-1:Fc (product number ALX-203-004, Alexis Biochemicals, Lausen, Switzerland).

The VH regions from individual monoclonal antibody fragments and the single VL region are cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector for human monoclonal antibodies as described in Example 10 and subsequently introduced into eukaryotic CHO cells by transfection. For each transfection, the plasmids encoding two or more different VH regions are mixed in various ratios and used at a concentration of 1 to 10 μg/ml. Clones secreting human antibodies are generated essentially as described in Example 10 and the supernatants monitored for VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2-specific antibodies with an ELISA in 96-well plates coated with VEGF-R1-Fc and VEGF-R2-AP as described in the previous paragraph, and using secondary antibodies that specifically bind to the human antibodies. Supernatants from clones secreting antibodies to both receptors are used to determine the biological activity of the mixtures in VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2 blocking assays and in an anti-mitotic and leukemia migration assays.

VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2 blocking assays are performed as described (Z. Zhu et al., Cancer Res. 58:3209-14 (1998); D. Lu et al., J. Immunol. Methods, 230:159-71 (1999). The anti-mitotic and leukemia migration assays are performed as described in WO 04003211 A1. To measure whether these antibody mixtures compete with VEGF for binding to the receptors, assays are carried out that measure the level of antibody-induced inhibition of VEGF-associated effects. For example, the effect of the antibody cocktail on VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation is measured using a thymidine incorporation assay. Numerous in vitro and in vivo assays have been described to measure the effect of ligands interfering with the VEGF-VEGF-receptor interaction. Some suitable assays are described in Gerbert et al., J Biol. Chem. 1998, 273:30336 (cell survival assay, endothelial cell apoptosis, Akt phosphorylation assay, as on page 30337); in Mendel et al., Clin. Cancer Res. 2000, 6:4848-4858 (s.c. xenograft model in athymic mice, surface expression of KDR, ¹²¹I VEGF binding assay, and Flk-1 receptor kinase assay, as on pages 4849-4850). These and other suitable assays are reviewed in Auerbach et al., 2003, Clin. Chemistry 49(1):32-40.

Example 20: Human Light Chain V-Gene Clones

This Example describes the rationale behind the choice of two human light chain V-genes, one gene of the kappa type and one gene of the lambda type, that are used as a proof of concept for light chain expressing transgenic mice. De Wildt et al. 1999 (de Wildt et al. (1999), J. Mol. Biol. 285(3):895) analyzed the expression of human light chains in peripheral IgG-positive B-cells. Based on these data, IGKV1-39 (O12) and IGLV2-14 (2a2) were chosen as light chains as they were well represented in the B-cell repertoire. The J-segment sequence of the light chains has been chosen based upon sequences as presented in GenBank ABA26122 for IGKV1-39 (B. J. Rabquer, S. L. Smithson, A. K. Shriner and M. A. J. Westerink) and GenBank AAF20450 for IGLV2-14 (O. Ignatovich, I. M. Tomlinson, A. V. Popov, M. Bruggemann and G. J. Winter, J. Mol. Biol. 294 (2):457-465 (1999)).

All framework segments are converted into germline amino acid sequences to provide the lowest immunogenicity possible in potential clinical applications.

Example 21: Obtaining Mouse Heavy Chain V-Genes that Pair with Human IGKV1-39 Gene Segment to Form Functional Antibody Binding Sites

This example describes the identification of mouse heavy chain V-genes that are capable of pairing with a single, rearranged human germline IGKV1-39/J region. A spleen VH repertoire from mice that were immunized with tetanus toxoid was cloned in a phage display Fab vector with a single human IGKV1-39-C kappa light chain and subjected to panning against tetanus toxoid. Clones obtained after a single round of panning were analyzed for their binding specificity. The murine VH genes encoding tetanus toxoid-specific Fab fragments were subjected to sequence analysis to identify unique clones and assign VH, DH and JH utilization.

Many of the protocols described here are standard protocols for the construction of phage display libraries and the panning of phages for binding to an antigen of interest and described in Antibody Phage Display: Methods and Protocols (editor(s): Philippa M. O'Brien and Robert Aitken).

Immunizations: BALB/c mice received one immunization with tetanus toxoid and were boosted after six weeks with tetanus toxoid.

Splenocyte isolation: Preparation of spleen cell suspension. After dissection, the spleen was washed with PBS and transferred to a 60 mm Petri dish with 20 ml PBS. A syringe capped with 20 ml PBS and a G20 needle was used to repeatedly flush the spleen. After washing the flushed cells with PBS, the cells were carefully brought into suspension using 20 ml PBS and left on a bench for five minutes to separate the splenocytes from the debris and cell clusters. The splenocytes suspension was transferred on top of a FICOLL-PAQUE® PLUS-filled tube and processed according to the manufacturer's procedures for lymphocyte isolation (Amersham Biosciences).

RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis: After isolation and pelleting of lymphocytes, the cells were suspended in TRIzol LS Reagent (Invitrogen) for the isolation of total RNA according to the accompanying manufacturer's protocol and subjected to reverse transcription reaction using 1 microgram of RNA, Superscript III RT in combination with dT20 according to manufacturer's procedures (Invitrogen).

PCR amplification of cDNA: The cDNA was amplified in a PCR reaction using primer combinations that allow the amplification of approximately 110 different murine V-genes belonging to 15 VH families (Table 1; RefSeq NG_005838; Thiebe et al. 1999, European Journal of Immunology 29:2072-2081). In the first round, primer combinations that bind to the 5′ end of the V-genes and 3′ end of the J regions were used. In the second round, PCR products that were generated with the MJH-Rev2 primer were amplified in order to introduce modifications in the 3′ region to enable efficient cloning of the products. In the last round of amplification, all PCR products were amplified using primers that introduce a SfiI restriction site at the 5′ end and a BstEII restriction site at the 3′ end (see, FIGS. 26 and 27, and Table 1).

Reaction conditions for 1st round PCR: four different reactions combining all 25 forward primers (MVH1 to MVH25, Table 1 and FIG. 27) and one reverse primer per reaction (MJH-Rev1, MJH-Rev2, MJH-Rev3 or MJH-Rev4; see Table 1 and FIG. 32). Fifty microliters PCR volumes were composed of 2 microliters cDNA (from RT reactions), 10 microliters 5* Phusion polymerase HF buffer, 40 nM of each of the 25 forward primers (total concentration of 1 micromolar), 1 micromolar reverse primer, 1 microliter 10 mM dNTP stock, 1.25 unit Phusion polymerase and sterile MQ water. The thermocycler program consisted of a touch down program: one cycle 98° C. for 30 seconds, 30 cycles 98° C. for ten seconds, 58° C. decreasing 0.2° C. per cycle ten seconds, 72° C. 20 seconds and one cycle 72° C. for three minutes. The second round PCR program was set up only for the products of the first PCR that contain the MJH-Rev2 primer: two different reactions combining either the ExtMVH-1 or ExtMVH-2 primers (Table 1 and FIG. 27) in combination with the reverse primer ExtMJH-Rev2int (Table 1 and FIG. 27). Fifty microliters PCR volumes were composed of 50 ng PCR product (from first PCR round), 10 microliters 5* Phusion polymerase HF buffer, 500 nM of each forward primer, 1 micromolar reverse primer, 1 microliter 10 mM dNTP stock, 1.25 unit Phusion polymerase and sterile MQ water. The thermocycler program consisted of a touch down program followed by a regular amplification step: one cycle 98° C. for 30 seconds, ten cycles 98° C. for ten seconds, 65° C. decreasing 1.5° C. per cycle ten seconds, 72° C. 20 seconds, ten cycles 98° C. for ten seconds, 55° C. ten seconds, 72° C. 20 seconds and one cycle 72° C. for three minutes. The third round PCR program was setup as described in FIG. 27. Fifty microliters PCR volumes were composed of 50 ng PCR product (from earlier PCR rounds, FIG. 27), 10 microliters 5* Phusion polymerase HF buffer, 1 micromolar forward primer (Table 1 and FIG. 27), 1 micromolar reverse primer, 1 microliter 10 mM dNTP stock, 1.25 unit Phusion polymerase and sterile MQ water. The program consists of a touch down program followed by a regular amplification step: one cycle 98° C. for 30 seconds, ten cycles 98° C. for ten seconds, 65° C. decreasing 1.5° C. per cycle ten seconds, 72° C. 20 seconds, ten cycles 98° C. for ten seconds, 55° C. ten seconds, 72° C. 20 seconds and one cycle 72° C. for three minutes. After PCR amplifications, all PCR products were gel purified using Qiaex II according to the manufacturer's protocols.

Restriction enzyme digestions: Purified products were digested with BstEII and SfiI in two steps. First 1 microgram of DNA was digested in 100 microliters reactions consisting of 10 microliters of 10* NEB buffer 3 (New England Biolabs), 1 microliter 100* BSA, 12.5 unit BstEII and sterile water for six hours at 60° C. in a stove. The products were purified using Qiaquick PCR Purification kit from Qiagen according to the manual instructions and eluted in 40 microliters water. Next, all products were further digested with SfiI in 100 microliters reactions consisting of 10 microliters of 10* NEB buffer 2 (New England Biolabs), 1 microliter 100* BSA, 12.5 unit SfiI and sterile water for 12 hours at 50° C. in a stove. The digested fragments were purified by Qiaquick Gel Extraction kit following gel separation on a 20 cm 1.5% agarose TBE plus ethidium bromide gel at 80 V. 100 micrograms of the acceptor vector (MV1043, FIGS. 28 and 27) was digested with 50 units Eco91I in 600 microliters under standard conditions (Tango buffer) and next purified on a 0.9% agarose gel. After a second digestion step under prescribed conditions with 400 units SfiI in 500 microliters for 12 hours, 100 units BsrGI were added for three hours at 50° C.

Ligations: Each PCR product was ligated separately according to the following scheme: 70 ng digested PCR products, 300 ng digested acceptor vector, 100 units T4 Ligase (NEB), 1* ligase buffer in 30 microliters for 16 hours at 12° C. The ligation reactions were purified with phenol/chloroform/isoamyl alcohol extractions followed by glycogen precipitations (Sigma Aldrich #G1767) according to the manufacturer's protocol and finally dissolved in 25 microliters sterile water.

Transformations and library storage: The purified ligation products were transformed by electroporation using 1200 microliters TG1 electrocompetent bacteria (Stratagene #200123) per ligation batch and plated on LB carbenicillin plates containing 4% glucose. Libraries were harvested by scraping the bacteria in 50 ml LB carbenicillin. After centrifugation at 2000 g for 20 minutes at 4° C., the bacterial pellets were resuspended carefully in 2 ml ice cold 2*TY/30% glycerol on ice water and frozen on dry ice/ethanol before storage at −80° C.

Library amplification: Libraries were grown and harvested according to procedures as described by Kramer et al. 2003 (Kramer et al. (2003), Nucleic Acids Res. 31(11):e59) using VCSM13 (Stratagene) as helper phage strain.

Selection of phages on coated immunotubes: Tetanus toxoid was dissolved in PBS in a concentration of 2 μg/ml and coated to MaxiSorp Nunc-Immuno Tube (Nunc 444474) overnight at 4° C. After discarding the coating solution, the tubes were blocked with 2% skim milk (ELK) in PBS (blocking buffer) for one hour at RT. In parallel, 0.5 ml of the phage library was mixed with 1 ml blocking buffer and incubated for 20 minutes at room temperature. After blocking the phages, the phage solution was added to the tetanus toxoid-coated tubes and incubated for two hours at RT on a slowly rotating platform to allow binding. Next, the tubes were washed ten times with PBS/0.05% TWEEN®-20 followed by phage elution by an incubation with 1 ml 50 mM glycine-HCl pH 2.2 ten minutes at RT on rotating wheel and directly followed by neutralization of the harvested eluent with 0.5 ml 1 M Tris-HCl pH 7.5.

Harvesting phage clones: Five ml XL1-Blue MRF (Stratagene) culture at O.D. 0.4 was added to the harvested phage solution and incubated for 30 minutes at 37° C. without shaking to allow infection of the phages. Bacteria were plated on Carbenicillin/Tetracycline 4% glucose 2*TY plates and grown overnight at 37° C.

Phage production: Phages were grown and processed as described by Kramer et al. 2003 (Kramer et al. 2003, Nucleic Acids Res. 31(11):e59) using VCSM13 as helper phage strain.

Phage ELISA: ELISA plates were coated with 100 microliters tetanus toxoid per well at a concentration of 2 micrograms/ml in PBS overnight at 4° C. Plates coated with 100 microliters thyroglobulin at a concentration of 2 micrograms/ml in PBS were used as a negative control. Wells were emptied, dried by tapping on a paper towel, filled completely with PBS-4% skimmed milk (ELK) and incubated for one hour at room temperature to block the wells. After discarding the block solution, phage minipreps pre-mixed with 50 μl blocking solution were added and incubated for one hour at RT. Next five washing steps with PBS-0.05% TWEEN®-20 removed unbound phages. Bound phages were detected by incubating the wells with 100 microliters anti-M13-HRP antibody conjugate (diluted 1/5000 in blocking buffer) for one hour at room temperature. Free antibody was removed by repeating the washing steps as described above, followed by TMB substrate incubation until color development was visible. The reaction was stopped by adding 100 microliters of 2 M H₂SO₄ per well and analyzed on an ELISA reader at 450 nm emission wavelength (Table 2). Higher numbers indicate stronger signals and thus higher incidence of specific binding of the phage-Fab complex.

Sequencing: Clones that gave signals at least three times above the background signal (Table 2) were propagated, used for DNA miniprep procedures (see, procedures Qiagen miniPrep manual) and subjected to nucleotide sequence analysis. Sequencing was performed according to the Big Dye 1.1 kit accompanying manual (Applied Biosystems) using a reverse primer (CH1_Rev1, Table 1) recognizing a 5′ sequence of the CH1 region of the human IgG1 heavy chain (present in the Fab display vector MV1043, FIGS. 28 and 37A-37Z). Mouse VH sequences of 28 tetanus toxoid binding clones are depicted in Table 3. The results show that the selected murine VH genes belong to different gene families, and different individual members from these gene families are able to pair with the rearranged human IGKV1-39/J VH region to form functional tetanus toxoid-specific antibody binding sites. From the sequence analyses, it was concluded that the murine VH regions utilize a diversity of DH and JH gene segments.

Example 27: Silencing of the Mouse Kappa Light Chain Locus

This example describes the silencing of the mouse endogenous kappa light chain locus. The endogenous kappa locus is modified by homologous recombination in ES cells, followed by the introduction of genetically modified ES cells in mouse embryos to obtain genetically adapted offspring.

A vector that contains an assembled nucleotide sequence consisting of a part comprising the J-region to 338 bp downstream of the J5 gene segment fused to a sequence ending 3′ of the 3′ CK enhancer is used for homologous recombination in ES cells. The assembled sequence is used to delete a genomic DNA fragment spanning from 3′ of the JK region to just 3′ of the 3′ CK enhancer. As a consequence of this procedure, the CK constant gene, the 3′ enhancer and some intergenic regions are removed (see, FIGS. 29, 43A and 43B).

Construction of the targeting vector: A vector that received 4.5-8 kb flanking arms on the 3′ and 5′ end fused to the deletion segment was used for targeted homologous recombination in an ES cell line. Both arms were obtained by PCR means ensuring maximum homology. The targeting strategy allows generation of constitutive KO allele. The mouse genomic sequence encompassing the Igk intronic enhancer, Igk constant region and the Igk 3′ enhancer was replaced with a PuroR cassette, which was flanked by F3 sites and inserted downstream of the Jk elements. Flp-mediated removal of the selection marker resulted in a constitutive KO allele. The replacement of the Igk MiEk-Igk C-Igk 3′E genomic region (approximately 10 kb) with a F3-Puro cassette (approx. 3 kb) was likely to decrease the efficiency of homologous recombination. Therefore, the arms of homology were extended accordingly and more ES cell colonies were analyzed after transfection in order to identify homologous recombinant clones.

Generation of ES cells bearing the deleted kappa fragment: The generation of genetically modified ES cells was essentially performed as described (Seibler et al. (2003), Nucleic Acids Res. February 15; 31(4):e12). See also Example 33 for a detailed description.

Generation of ES mice by tetraploid embryo complementation: The production of mice by tetraploid embryo complementation using genetically modified ES cells was essentially performed as described (Eggan et al., PNAS 98:6209-6214; J. Seibler et al. (2003), Nucleic Acids Res. February 15; 31(4):e12; Hogan et al. (1994), Summary of mouse development, Manipulating the Mouse Embryo, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor N.Y., pp. 253-289).

Example 23: Silencing of the Mouse Lambda Light Chain Locus

This Example describes the silencing of the mouse endogenous lambda light chain locus. The endogenous lambda locus is modified by homologous recombination in ES cells followed by the introduction of genetically modified ES cells in mouse embryos to obtain genetically adapted offspring.

Two regions of the murine lambda locus that together contain all functional lambda V regions are subject to deletion.

The first region targeted for homologous recombination-based deletion is a region that is located 408 bp upstream of the start site of the IGLV2 gene segment and ends 215 bp downstream of IGLV3 gene segment, including the intergenic sequence stretch between these IGLV gene segments. The second region that is subject to a deletion involves the IGLV1 gene segment consisting of a fragment spanning from 392 bp upstream to 171 bp downstream of the IGLV1 gene segment. As a consequence of these two deletion steps, all functional V-lambda genes segments are deleted, rendering the locus functionally inactive (FIGS. 30, 44A and 44B).

Construction of the Targeting Vectors

Vectors that received 3-9.6 kb flanking arms on the 3′ and 5′ end fused to the deletion segment were used for targeted homologous recombination in an ES cell line. Both arms were obtained by PCR means ensuring maximum homology. In a first step, the mouse genomic sequence encompassing the Igl V2-V3 regions were replaced with a PuroR cassette flanked by F3 sites, which yields a constitutive KO allele after Flp-mediated removal of selection marker (see, FIG. 44A). In a second step, the mouse genomic sequence encompassing the Igl V1 region was replaced with a Neo cassette in ES cell clones which already carried a deletion of the Igl V2-V3 regions (see, FIG. 44B). The selection marker (NeoR) was flanked by FRT sites. A constitutive KO allele was obtained after Flp-mediated removal of selection markers.

Generation of ES Cells Bearing the Deleted Lambda Fragment

The generation of genetically modified ES cells was essentially performed as described (J. Seibler, B. Zevnik, B. Küter-Luks, S. Andreas, H. Kern, T. Hennek, A. Rode, C. Heimann, N. Faust, G. Kauselmann, M. Schoor, R. Jaenisch, K. Rajewsky, R. Kühn, F. Schwenk (2003), Nucleic Acids Res., February 15; 31(4):e12). See also, Example 33 for a detailed description. To show that both targeting events occurred on the same chromosome several double targeted clones were selected for the in vitro deletion with pCMV C31deltaCpG. The clones were expanded under antibiotic pressure on a mitotically inactivated feeder layer comprised of mouse embryonic fibroblasts in DMEM High Glucose medium containing 20% FCS (PAN) and 1200 μ/mL Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (Millipore ESG 1107). 1×10⁷ cells from each clone were electroporated with 20 μg of circular pCMV C31deltaCpG at 240 V and 500 μF and plated on four 10 cm dishes each. Two to three days after electroporation, cells were harvested and analyzed by PCR. Primers used were:

2005_5: (SEQ ID NO: 1) CCCTTTCCAATCTTTATGGG 2005_7: (SEQ ID NO: 2) AGGTGGATTGGTGTCTTTTTCTC 2005_9: (SEQ ID NO: 3) GTCATGTCGGCGACCCTACGCC

PCR reactions were performed in mixtures comprising 5 μl PCR Buffer 10× (Invitrogen), 2 μl MgCl₂ (50 mM), 1 μl dNTPs (10 mM), 1 μl first primer (5 μM), 1 μl second primer (5 μM), 0.4 μl Taq (5 U/ul, Invitrogen), 37.6 μl H₂O, and 2 μl DNA. The program used was 95° C. for five minutes; followed by 35 cycles of 95° C. for 30 seconds; 60° C. for 30 seconds; 72° C. for 1 minute; followed by 72° C. for ten minutes.

Generation of ES mice by tetraploid embryo complementation: The production of mice by tetraploid embryo complementation using genetically modified ES cells was essentially performed as described (Eggan et al., PNAS 98:6209-6214; J. Seibler, B. Zevnik, B. Küter-Luks, S. Andreas, H. Kern, T. Hennek, A. Rode, C. Heimann, N. Faust, G. Kauselmann, M. Schoor, R. Jaenisch, K. Rajewsky, R. Kühn, and F. Schwenk (2003), Nucleic Acids Res., February 15; 31(4):e12; Hogan et al. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor N.Y.), pp. 253-289).

Example 24: Construction of the CAGGS Expression Insert Based on a Rearranged Human Germline IGKV1-39/J-Ck Gene (IGKV1-39/J-Ck)

This example describes the construction of a CAGGS expression cassette incorporating the rearranged human germline IGKV1-39/J region. This insert expression cassette encompasses cloning sites, a Kozak sequence, a leader sequence containing an intron, an open reading frame of the rearranged IGKV1-39 region, a rat CK constant region from allele a and a translational stop sequence (IGKV1-39/J-Ck; FIG. 31). The primary construct consists of naturally occurring sequences and has been analyzed and optimized by removing undesired cis acting elements like internal TATA-boxes, poly adenylation signals, chi-sites, ribosomal entry sites, AT-rich or GC-rich sequence stretches, ARE-, INS- and CRS sequence elements, repeat sequences, RNA secondary structures, (cryptic) splice donor and acceptor sites and splice branch points (GeneArt GmbH). In addition, the codon usage in the open reading frame regions is optimized for expression in mice. The intron sequence is unchanged and thus represents the sequence identical to the coding part of the human IGKV1-39 leader intron.

At the 5′ end of the expression cassette, a NotI site was introduced and on the 3′ site a NheI site. Both sites are used for cloning in the CAGGS expression module. After gene assembly according to methods used by GeneArt, the insert is digested with NotI-NheI and cloned into the expression module containing a CAGGS promoter, a stopper sequence flanked by LoxP sites (“floxed”), a polyadenylation signal sequence and, at the 5′ and 3′ end, sequences to facilitate homologous recombination into the Rosa26 locus of mouse ES cell lines. Promoter and/or cDNA fragments were amplified by PCR, confirmed by sequencing and/or cloned directly from delivered plasmids into an RMCE exchange vector harboring the indicated features. A schematic drawing and the confirmed sequence of the final targeting vector pCAGGS-IgVK1-39 are shown in FIGS. 38A-38B-4. The targeting strategy is depicted in FIG. 38C.

Example 25: CAGGS Expression Insert Based on the Rearranged Germline IGLV2-14/J V Lambda Region (IGLV2-14/J-Ck)

This example describes the sequence and insertion of an expression cassette incorporating the rearranged germline IGLV2-14/J V lambda region. This insert encompasses cloning sites, a Kozak sequence, a leader sequence containing an intron, an open reading frame of the rearranged IGLV2-14/J region, a rat CK constant region from allele a and a translational stop sequence (IGLV2-14/J-Ck; FIG. 32). The primary construct consists of naturally-occurring sequences and has been analyzed and optimized by removing undesired cis acting elements like: internal TATA-boxes, poly adenylation signals, chi-sites, ribosomal entry sites, AT-rich or GC-rich sequence stretches, ARE-, INS- and CRS sequence elements, repeat sequences, RNA secondary structures, (cryptic) splice donor and acceptor sites and splice branch points (GeneArt GmbH). In addition, the codon usage in the open reading frame regions was optimized for expression in mice. The intron sequence is unchanged and thus represents the sequence identical to the human IGKV1-39 leader intron.

At the 5′ end of the expression cassette, a NotI site was introduced and on the 3′ site a NheI site. Both sites are used for cloning in the CAGGS expression module as described by TaconicArtemis. After gene assembly according to methods used by GeneArt, the insert was digested with NotI-NheI and cloned into the expression module containing a CAGGS promoter, a stopper sequence flanked by LoxP sites (“floxed”), a polyadenylation signal sequence and, at the 5′ and 3′ end, sequences to facilitate homologous recombination into the Rosa26 locus of mouse ES cell lines. To construct the final ROSA26 RMCE targeting vector, promoter and/or cDNA fragments were amplified by PCR. Amplified products were confirmed by sequencing and/or cloned directly from delivered plasmids into an RMCE exchange vector harboring the indicated features. A schematic drawing and the confirmed sequence of the final targeting vector pCAGGS-IgVL2-14 is shown in FIGS. 40A-40B-4. The targeting strategy is depicted in FIG. 40C.

Example 26: Expression of IGKV1-39/J-Ck in HEK293 Cell Lines (pSELECT-IGKV1-39/J-Ck)

This example describes a method to verify that the IGKV1-39/J-Ck constructs described in Example 24 enable expression and detection of the IGKV1-39/J-Ck L chain in HEK293 cells. The IGKV1-39/J insert (FIG. 31) was modified at the 5′ end by changing the NotI site into a SalI site. This change is required for cloning of the product into the expression cassette plasmid pSELECT-hygro (InvivoGen). The CAGGS expression insert IGKV1-39/J-Ck and pSELECT-hygro were digested with SalI and NheI, ligated and used to transform competent XL1-Blue cells using standard techniques. Colonies were picked and DNA purified using Qiagen Midi-prep columns according to the manufacturer's procedures. The resulting light chain (LC) expressing vector named 0817676_pSELECT_0815426 was used to transfect HEK293 cells with Fugene6 (Roche) according to the manufacturer's protocols. Supernatants were screened for the presence of IGKV1-39/J-Ck light chains by ELISA and western blot using anti-rat-Ck antibodies (Beckton Dickinson #550336 and 553871) and protocols used in the art.

The VH of anti-tetanus toxoid (TT) IgG MG1494 was cloned into IgG expression vector MV1056 using restriction sites SfiI and BstEII. The resulting clone was sequence verified. HEK293T cells were transfected with five different vector combinations as shown in Table 4 (see, Example 27 for details of vector 0817678_pSELECT_0815427). Supernatants were harvested and IgG concentrations determined (see, Table 4). No IgG could be detected for supernatants A and B containing light chain only as expected (detection antibody recognized Fc part of IgG). IgG concentration in supernatants C and D was comparable to that of positive control supernatant E, indicating correct expression of the light chain constructs.

Binding to TT was analyzed by ELISA to check functionality of the produced antibodies, using hemoglobin as negative control antigen. No TT-specific binding could be detected for supernatants A and B containing light chain only, as expected. TT-specific binding for supernatants C and D was at least as good as for positive control supernatant E, confirming correct expression of the light chain constructs and functional assembly with heavy chain. Antibodies were detected not only using an anti-human IgG secondary antibody, but also an anti-rat Ckappa light chain secondary antibody. The results confirm that the anti-rat Ckappa antibody (BD Pharmingen #553871, clone MRK-1) recognizes the light chain expressed by the pSELECT vectors.

Supernatants were analyzed by non-reducing SDS-PAGE and Western blot (not shown). Detection using an anti-human IgG heavy chain antibody did not show bands for supernatants A and B containing light chain only, as expected. Results for supernatants C and D were comparable to positive control supernatant E, with a band close to the 170 kD marker as expected for intact IgG. Additional lower molecular weight bands were observed as well for supernatants C, D and E, which might represent degradation products, IgG fragments resulting from (partial) reduction and/or irrelevant protein bands due to non-specific binding of the detection antibody.

Detection using an anti-rat Ckappa light chain antibody showed a band close to the 26 kD marker for supernatants A and B, as expected for light chain only. This band was much more intense for A compared to B, indicating that the free IGKV1-39 light chain may be better expressed and/or more stable than the free IGLV2-14 light chain. No bands were detected for control supernatant E as expected, since the expressed IgG contains a human Ckappa light chain. For supernatants C and D, expected bands close to the 170 kD marker were observed; lower molecular weight bands were also observed, but to a lesser extent than above using the anti-human IgG antibody.

In conclusion, transfection of the light chain expression constructs combined with the heavy chain of anti-tetanus toxoid (TT) IgG MG1494 resulted in IgG production comparable to the positive control construct for both the pSELECT kappa and lambda light chain constructs. Both IgG productions yielded ELISA signals in a TT ELISA that were better than or comparable to the control IgG. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of intact IgG. The tested anti-rat Ckappa antibody worked efficiently in both ELISA and Western blot. Culture supernatant from cells transfected with light chain constructs only did not result in detectable IgG production nor in detectable TT-specific binding, while free light chain was detected on Western blot.

Example 27: Expression of IGLV2-14/J-Ck in HEK293 Cell Lines (pSELECT-IGLV2-14/J-Ck)

This Example describes a method to verify that the IGLV2-14/J constructs described in Example 25 enable expression and detection of the IGLV2-14/J-Ck L chain in HEK293 cells. The IGLV2-14/J-Ck insert (FIG. 32) was modified at the 5′ end by changing the NotI site into a SalI site. This change is required for cloning of the product into the expression cassette plasmid pSELECT-hygro (InvivoGen). The CAGGS expression insert IGLV2-14/J-Ck and pSELECT-hygro were digested with SalI and NheI ligated and used to transform competentXL1-Blue cells using standard techniques. Colonies were picked and DNA purified using Qiagen Midi-prep columns according to the manufacturer's procedures. The resulting light chain (LC) expressing vector named 0817678_pSELECT_0815427 was used to transfect HEK293 cells with Fugene6 (Roche) according to the manufacturer's protocols. Supernatants were screened for the presence of IGLV2-14/J-Ck light chains by ELISA and western blot using anti-rat-Ck antibodies (Becton Dickinson #550336 and 553871) and protocols used in the art. See Example 26 for details and results.

Example 28: Construction of a VK Promoter-Driven Expression Construct Containing an IGKV1-39/J Insert and Multiple Enhancer Elements Derived from the Murine CK Locus (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck; VkP-O12)

This example describes the construction of an expression cassette that contains relevant elements to enable B-cell and developmental/differentiation stage-specific expression of the rearranged human IGKV1-39 VK region, based on the IGKV1-39 VK promoter region, leader containing an intron, germline V-gene, CDR3, IGKJ segment, mouse intergenic region located between Jk and CK, rat Ck allele a open reading frame, and a mouse intergenic fragment from the 3′ end of the mouse CK gene ending just 3′ of the 3′ CK enhancer.

Optimized open reading frames of the leader, IGKV1-39 rearranged gene, and rat CK allele a gene, as described in Example 24, was used for the construction of the expression cassette. The VK promoter region was obtained by gene synthesis procedures (GeneArt, GmbH) and is almost identical to the sequence of the human IGKV1-39 region between −500 bp and the ATG (start site) of the gene. The only deviation from the natural sequence is the introduction of a GCCACCATGG Kozak sequence (SEQ ID NO: 102) at the ATG (start) site in order to promote translation. A genomic fragment from a mouse BAC clone (TaconicArtemis) is used as the basis for the introduction of individual elements. This fragment is identical to the sequence of the mouse VK locus starting with the intron donor site located directly 3′ of the JK5 region and ending just 3′ of the 3′ CK enhancer and covers approximately 12.5 kb.

The final construct contains from 5′ to 3′ end the following elements: human genomic IGKV1-39 promoter (500 bp), a Kozak sequence, a human IGKV1-39 leader part 1 (optimized), a human IGKV1-39 leader intron, a human IGKV1-39 leader part 2 (optimized), a human IGKV1-39 germline gene (optimized), a human J-region (optimized), a mouse intergenic region including the intron enhancer element, a rat (Rattus norvegicus) kappa constant region (optimized), and a mouse intergenic region including the 3′ kappa enhancer. The elements of this expression cassette are shown in FIG. 33 and named VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck (VkP-O12). An outline of the pVkP-O12 vector and the targeting strategy is depicted in FIGS. 45A and 46A. The vector was introduced into ES cells following standard procedures (see, Example 33).

Example 29: Construction of a VK Promoter-Driven Expression Construct Containing an IGLV2-14/J Clone and Multiple CK Locus-Derived Enhancer Elements (VkP-IGLVL2-14/J-Ck; VkP-2a2)

This example describes the same construct as described in Example 28, except that the IGKV1-39 gene and J-region are replaced by the optimized human IGLV2-14 germline gene including a unique V-J region (VkP-IGLV2-14/J-Ck; VkP-2a2; FIG. 34).

Example 30: Construction of a VK Promoter-Driven Expression Construct Containing an IGKV1-39 Clone Lacking the CK Intron Enhancer Element (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1; VkP-O12-del1)

The construct described in Example 28 was modified by removing the CK intron enhancer element, located in the intergenic region between the human J region and the rat CK region by standard PCR modification and DNA cloning methodologies (GeneArt, GmBH). The resulting expression cassette is shown in FIG. 35 and named VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ1 (VkP-O12-del1).

An outline of the pVkP-O12-del1 vector and the targeting strategy is depicted in FIGS. 45B and 46B. The vector was introduced into ES cells following standard procedures (see, Example 33).

Example 31: Construction of a VK Promoter-Driven Expression Construct Containing an IGKV1-39 Clone Lacking the CK Intron Enhancer Element and a Truncated 3′ CK Enhancer Element (VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ2; VkP-O12-del2)

The construct described in Example 40 was modified by truncating the 3′ CK enhancer element and deleting part of the intergenic region 3′ of the rat Ck gene, to remove potential inhibitory elements. This was achieved by removing the intergenic sequence between an EcoRV site (located 3′ of the rat Ck gene) and the NcoI site present in the 3′ enhancer (5993 bp) and further removing the sequence between the 3′ enhancer BstXI site and the BstXI site 3′ of the 3′ enhancer (474 bp) using standard methods. The resulting expression cassette is shown in FIG. 26 and named VkP-IGKV1-39/J-Ck-Δ2 (VkP-O12-del2).

An outline of the pVkP-O12-del2 vector and the targeting strategy is depicted in FIGS. 25C and 26C. The vector was introduced into ES cells following standard procedures (see, Example 33).

Example 32: Expression of Vk Constructs in Cell Lines

The constructs described in Examples 28-31 are tested for their ability to produce light chain proteins in the myeloma cell lines MPC11 (ATCC CCL167), B-cell lymphoma WEHI231 (ATCC CRL-1702), the T-cell lymphoma EL4 (ATCC TIB-39) and in HEK293 (ATCC CRL1573). The enhancer and promoter elements in the construct enable expression in the B-cell lines but not in cell lines derived from other tissues. After transfection of the cell lines using purified linearized DNA and Fugene6 (Roche) cells are cultured for transient expression. Cells and supernatant are harvested and subjected to SDS-PAGE analysis followed by western blotting using a specific anti-rat-C-kappa antibody. Supernatants are analyzed in ELISA for secreted L chains using the anti-rat CK antibody (Beckton Dickinson #550336).

Example 33: Generation of Transgenic ES Lines

All constructs as described in Examples 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30 and 31 were used to generate individual stable transgenic ES lines by means of homologous recombination. The methods for generation of transgenic ES lines via homologous recombination are known in the field (e.g., Eggan et al., PNAS 98:6209-6214; J. Seibler, B. Zevnik, B. Küter-Luks, S. Andreas, H. Kern, T. Hennek, A. Rode, C. Heimann, N. Faust, G. Kauselmann, M. Schoor, R. Jaenisch, K. Rajewsky, R. Kühn, F. Schwenk (2003), Nucleic Acids Res., February 15; 31(4):e12; Hogan et al. (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor N.Y.), pp. 253-289).

For all constructs described in Examples 5 and 6, and Examples 9-12, the RMCE ES cell line (derived from mouse strain 129S6B6F1-Gt(ROSA)26Sortm10Arte) was grown on a mitotically inactivated feeder layer comprised of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) in DMEM High Glucose medium containing 15% FBS (PAN 1302-P220821). Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (Chemicon ESG 1107) was added to the medium at a concentration of 900 U/mL. For manipulation, 2×10⁵ ES-cells were plated on 3.5 cm dishes in 2 ml medium. Directly before transfection, 2 ml fresh medium was added to the cells. Three μl Fugene6 Reagent (Roche; Catalog No. 1 814 443) was mixed with 100 μl serum free medium (OptiMEM I with Glutamax I; Invitrogen; Catalog No. 51985-035) and incubated for five minutes. One hundred μl of the Fugene/OptiMEM solution was added to 2 μg circular vector and 2 μg CAGGS-Flp and incubated for 20 minutes. This transfection complex was added dropwise to the cells and mixed. Fresh medium was added to the cells the following day. From day 2 onwards, the medium was replaced daily with medium containing 250 μg/mL G418 (Geneticin; Invitrogen; Catalog No. 10131-019). Seven days after transfection, single clones were isolated, expanded, and molecular analyzed by Southern blotting according to standard procedures.

For each construct, analysis of multiple clones by restriction enzyme digestion of genomic DNA of single clones followed by hybridization with 5′ probes, 3′ probes, and internal probes resulted in clones that comprised a correct, single insertion at the correct position in the Rosa26 locus. An example is provided in FIGS. 39A-39C.

Example 34: Generation of Transgenic Mouse Strains

All ES cell lines that were generated and verified for their modifications as described in Example 33 were used to generate stable transgenic mice by means of tetraploid recombination. The methods are known in the field. In general, after administration of hormones, superovulated Balb/c females were mated with Balb/c males. Blastocysts were isolated from the uterus at dpc 3.5. For microinjection, blastocysts were placed in a drop of DMEM with 15% FCS under mineral oil. A flat tip, piezo actuated microinjection-pipette with an internal diameter of 12-15 micrometers was used to inject 10-15 targeted C57BL/6 N.tac ES cells into each blastocyst. After recovery, injected blastocysts were transferred to each uterine horn of 2.5 days post coitum, pseudopregnant NMRI females. Chimerism was measured in chimeras (G0) by coat color contribution of ES cells to the Balb/c host (black/white). Highly chimeric mice were bred to strain C57BL/6 females. Depending on the project requirements, the C57BL/6 mating partners are non-mutant (W) or mutant for the presence of a recombinase gene (Flp-Deleter or Cre-deleter or CreER inducible deleter or combination of Flp-deleter/CreER). Germline transmission was identified by the presence of black, strain C57BL/6, offspring (G1).

For example, ESC clone IgVK1-39 2683 8 (see, Examples 5 and 14) was injected in a total of 62 blastocysts in three independent experiments. Three litters were obtained with a total of six pups. All pups were chimeric. Three heterozygous offspring pups were obtained that were used for further crossing.

ESC Clone Kappa 2692 A-C10 (see, Examples 3 and 14) was injected in a total of 54 blastocysts in three independent experiments. Three litters were obtained with a total of eleven pups, of which ten were chimeric. Eight heterozygous offspring pups were obtained that were used for further crossing.

ESC Clone Kappa 2692 B-C1 (see, Examples 3 and 14) was injected in a total of 51 blastocysts in three independent experiments. Two litters were obtained with a total of six pups, of which four were chimeric. Three heterozygous offspring pups were obtained that were used for further crossing.

Example 35: Breeding

This example describes the breeding for obtaining mice that contain transgenic expression cassettes as described Example 33 and knock-out mice in which the endogenous lambda and kappa loci have been silenced. The localization of V-lambda on chromosome 16 and CD19 on chromosome 7 allow standard breeding procedures. The breeding of the co-localized Vk locus and Rosa26 locus on chromosome 6 with a distance of about 24 cM requires special attention during the screening as only a percentage of the offspring shows crossover in a way that both modifications are brought together on one chromosome.

All four loci have to be combined in a single mouse strain that is homo- or heterozygous for CD19-cre (not described) and modified Rosa26 transgene and homozygous for the other loci. Breeding is performed by standard breeding and screening techniques as appropriate and offered by commercial breeding companies (e.g., TaconicArtemis).

Example 36: Immunizations of Mice

Primary and booster immunization of mice are performed using standard protocols.

To validate the transgenic expression of human rearranged Vκ O12 (IGKV1-39)—rat Cκ light chains (see, Examples 5, 14-16) in B cells from CD19-HuVκ1 mice and to assess its impact on VH repertoire size, diversity of VH family usage and V(D)J recombination after immunization, the CD19-HuVκ1 transgenic mice are immunized with tetanus toxin vaccine (TT vaccine) and VH sequence diversity of randomly picked clones from CD19-HuVκ1 mice are compared with TT-immunized wt mice and CD19-Cre HuVk1 negative littermates. Data on the SHM frequency of the human Vκ O12 transgene in the immunized mice are obtained. A diverse collection of at least 40 TT-specific, clonally-unrelated mAbs containing the human Vκ O12 are recovered from CD19-HuVκ1 mice by phage display.

For this, three adult CD19-HuVκ1 mice are vaccinated with TT vaccine using standard immunization procedures. After immunization, serum titers are measured using TT specific ELISA (TT: Statens Serum Institute, Art. no. 2674) and spleen suspensions subjected to cell sorting by the FACS procedure after staining with a rat Cκ-specific monoclonal antibody to isolate transgenic B cells (clone RG7/9.1; BD Pharmingen #553901, Lot #06548). RNA from rat Cκ-positive B cells are extracted and the resulting cDNA material used for library building and SHM analysis.

The standard monoclonal mouse anti-rat Cκ antibody (clone RG7/9.1; BD Pharmingen #553901, Lot #06548) is used in FACS analysis of transgene expressing B cells (Meyer et al. (1996), Int. Immunol. 8:1561). The clone RG7/9.1 antibody reacts with a monotypic (common) kappa chain determinant. This anti-rat Cκ antibody (clone RG7/9.1 (BD Pharmingen #553901, Lot #06548) is labeled with R-phycoerythrin (PE) using the LYNX rapid conjugation kit according to the manufacturer's instructions for FACS analysis and sorting. The labeled antibody is firstly tested by flow cytometry for binding to rat Cκ-containing functional light chain proteins produced into transiently transfected HEK-293T cells; the un-conjugated antibody serves as a positive control. Two other antibodies shown to bind to rat Cκ by ELISA and Western-blot (see, Example 26) are tested as well by flow cytometry.

Fab-phage display library building is carried out with a set of optimized degenerate PCR primers designed to amplify C57BL/6 VH genes; the minimal library size is 10⁶ clones, and minimal insert frequency is 80%. The vector used, MV1043 (FIGS. 28 and 37A-37Z), contains the human Vκ O12 fused to a human Cκ region. The rat Cκ is therefore exchanged for the human counterpart in the library generation process.

Before selection, VH sequencing of 96 randomly picked clones is performed to validate VH repertoire diversity that is compared to diversity obtained from an unselected library previously generated using the same procedures from BALB/c mice immunized with TT. A library from C57Bl/6 wt mice that are immunized in the same way allows diversity comparison between two preselected libraries sharing the same vaccine and the same genetic background.

Several independent selections are performed on TT coated in immunotubes. Variables that may be included are selections using biotinylated antigens in solution or selections on captured TT. Based on the number and diversity of ELISA-positive clones obtained in the first selections, decisions on additional rounds of selection are made. Clones are considered positive when >3× positive over a negative control clone. Positive clones are analyzed by ELISA against a panel of negative control antigens to verify antigen specificity. The aim is to identify at least 40 unique VH regions, as based on unique CDR3 sequences and V_(H)DJ_(H) rearrangements.

Amplification of the cDNA material from rat Cκ-positive sorted B cells is performed with a PCR forward primer specific to the human leader sequence and a PCR reverse primer specific to the rat Cκ sequence, in a region not redundant with the mouse Cκ sequence, as reported in a recent study (Brady et al. (2006), JIM 315:61). Primer combinations and annealing temperatures are firstly tested on cDNA from HEK-293T cells transfected with 0817676_pSELECT_0815426=pSELECT vector with IGKV1-39 DNA cassette (see, Example 26).

The amplification products is cloned in pJET-1 vector and after XL1-blue transformation, 96 colonies are sequenced for assessing VL SHM frequency by direct comparison to the Vκ O12 (IGKV1-39) germline sequence. The R/S ratio method, as described in the study on human TT-specific antibodies (de Kruif et al. (2009), J. Mol. Biol. 387:548) allows discrimination between random mutations and antigen-driven mutations that occurred on VL sequences.

Example 37: Immunofluorescent Analysis of B Cell Populations in Transgenic Mouse Lines

This example describes the use of antibodies and flow cytometry to analyze B cell populations in primary (bone marrow) and secondary (spleen, peritoneal) lymphoid organs and blood. Methods and reagents are described in Middendorp et al. (2002), J. Immunol. 168:2695; and Middendorp et al. (2004), J. Immunol. 172:1371. For analysis of early B cell development in bone marrow, cells were surface stained with combinations of antibodies (Becton Dickinson) specific for B220, CD19, CD25, IgM, IgD, mouse Ckappa, mouse Clambda and rat Ckappa to detect pro-B cells, pre-B cells, large pre-B cells, early and late immature B cells and recirculating B cell populations expressing the transgene on their surface. DAPI staining (Invitrogen) was included to exclude dead cells from the analysis and FC block (Becton Dickinson) to inhibit antibody interaction with Fc receptors on myeloid cells. For analysis of surface transgene expression on B cell populations in peripheral lymphoid organs and blood, cells were stained with combinations of antibodies (Becton Dickinson) specific for B220, CD5, CD19, CD21, CD23, IgM, IgD, mouse Ckappa, mouse Clambda and rat Ckappa. DAPI staining was included to exclude dead cells from the analysis and FC block to inhibit antibody interaction with Fc receptors on myeloid cells. In addition, combinations of antibodies (Becton Dickinson) specific for CD3, CD4, CD11b, CD11c and NK1.1 were included to determine if transgene expression occurred in cell types outside of the B cell compartment.

Three mice heterozygous for the human IGKV1-39/rat Ckappa transgene and heterozygous for the CD19-Cre transgene on a C57BL6 background (HuVk1/CD19-Cre) were analyzed. As controls for the FACS analysis, three littermate mice wild-type for the human IGKV1-39/rat Ckappa transgene and heterozygous for the CD19-Cre transgene on a C57BL6 background (CD19-Cre) and two C57BL6/NTac mice (Wt) were included. All animals were allowed to acclimatize in the animal facility for one week before analysis and all mice were male and six weeks of age. Lymphocytes were isolated from the femurs, spleens, peritoneal cavity and blood of mice using conventional techniques as previously described (Middendorp et al. (2002), J. Immunol. 168:2695; and Middendorp et al. (2004), J. Immunol. 172:1371). Antibodies were pre-combined as shown in Table 10 and staining was carried out in 96-well plates. Incubation with the PE-conjugated anti-rat C kappa (described above) was carried out before staining with the rat anti-murine antibodies to avoid non-specific binding. After completion of cell staining, labeled cells were analyzed on a Becton Dickinson LSR II FACS machine and the acquired data analyzed with FLOWJO® software (v6.4.7).

Transgenic mice were similar in weight, appearance and activity to wild-type mice. No gross anatomical alterations were observed during the harvesting of tissues. No difference was observed in the numbers of B cells in the bone marrow (BM) and spleen (Table 11) or in the numbers of B cells, T cells and myeloid cells in peripheral organs between transgenic and wild-type mice. In addition, the frequency or proportion of the cells in the different lymphocyte developmental pathways was not altered in transgenic mice when compared to wild-type mice. Thus in the double transgenic (HuVk1/CD19-Cre) and transgenic (CD19-Cre) mice lymphoid and most importantly B cell development was indistinguishable from wild-type mice.

In the peripheral lymphoid organs, staining with the transgene specific antibody (anti-ratCkappa-PE) was only observed in the B cell populations. T cell, myeloid cell and NK cell populations were all negative for surface expression of the transgene in the spleen (FIGS. 48A-48C). In contrast, in cells stained with the pan B cell markers B220 and CD19 all cells were shifted to the right in the FACS plot indicating cell surface expression of the transgene (FIGS. 49A and 49B). A similar transgene-specific staining was measured in CD5⁺ B1 cells of the peritoneum, a developmentally distinct population of B cells (FIGS. 50A and 50B).

Differentiation of B cells from multilineage precursors to mature B cells occurs in the bone marrow. In the lymphocytes analyzed from the bone marrow, extracellular and transgene expression was not detectable in the earliest B cell progenitors the pro- and pre-B cell consistent with the pattern of normal light chain expression (FIGS. 51A-1-51B-2). Transgene expression first becomes detectable in immature B cells, the developmental stage at which the germline murine light chain undergoes rearrangement and is expressed at the cell surface in the context of the preselected heavy chain (FIGS. 51A-1-51B-2). Consistent with the staining in the spleen transgenic light chain expression is also detected on mature recirculating B cells (FIGS. 51A-1-51B-2). Thus the CD19-Cre driven expression of the transgene is consistent with the normal pattern of light chain expression. The staining with the endogenous light chain-specific antibody is more intense than that of the transgene-specific light chain antibody. This may indicate a higher expression level of the endogenous light chain, a more sensitive staining with the endogenous light chain-specific antibody or a combination of both. Importantly, the intensity of the surface expression of the transgenic light chain is correlated with both endogenous light chain and IgM surface expression as observed in staining of circulating B cells in the blood (FIGS. 52A and 52B).

Thus, overall this analysis demonstrates that expression of the human IGKV1-39/Ckappa transgene is restricted to the B cell compartment and the temporal regulation of its expression is similar to the endogenous kappa and lambda light chains resulting in normal development of all B cell populations. The apparent lower level of expression of the transgene could be explained by the strength of the promoter in comparison to the promoter and enhancers present on endogenous light chain genes or by a delay in transgene expression that gives the endogenous light chains a competitive advantage in pairing with the rearranged heavy chain. This is consistent with the observation that as B cells mature the relative intensity of transgene staining increases compared to the endogenous light chains. In addition, the observation that B cells numbers are normal and that every surface Ig+ B cell co-expresses an endogenous and transgenic light chain supports the conclusion that the IGKV1-39 variable region is capable of pairing with a normal repertoire of different murine heavy chain variable regions. Concluded from this analysis was that insertion of the IGKV1-39/rat Ckappa transgene driven by the CD19-Cre activated CAGGS promoter in the Rosa locus facilitates timely and B cell-specific expression of the transgene and that the transgene is capable of pairing with a normal repertoire of murine heavy chains.

Example 38: EPIBASE® T-Cell Epitope Profile for IGKV1-39

The protein sequence of IGKV1-39 (FIGS. 37A-37Z, human germline IGKV1-39/J Protein) was scanned for the presence of putative HLA class II restricted epitopes, also known as T_(H)-epitopes. For this, Algonomics' EPIBASE® platform was applied to IGKV1-39. In short, the platform analyzes the HLA binding specificities of all possible 10-mer peptides derived from a target sequence (Desmet et al. (1992), Nature 356:539-542; Desmet et al. (1997), FASEB J. 11:164-172; Desmet et al. (2002), Proteins 48:31-43; Desmet et al. (2005), Proteins 58:53-69). Profiling is done at the allotype level for 20 DRB1, 7 DRB3/4/5, 13 DQ and 7 DP, i.e., 47 HLA class II receptors in total (see, Table 5). EPIBASE® calculates a quantitative estimate of the free energy of binding ΔG_(bind) of a peptide for each of the 47 HLA class II receptors. These data were then further processed as follows:

Free energies were converted into Kd-values through ΔG_(bind)=RT ln(Kd).

Peptides were classified as strong (S), medium (M), weak and non (N) binders. The following cutoffs were applied:

S: strong binder: Kd<0.1 μM.

M: medium binder: 0.1 μM≤Kd<0.8 μM.

N: weak and non-binder: 0.8 μM≤Kd.

Peptides corresponding to self-peptides were treated separately. The list of self-peptides was taken from 293 antibody germline sequences. They are referred to as “germ line-filtered” peptides.

S- and M-peptides are mapped onto the target sequence in so-called epitope maps; S-affinities are plotted quantitatively; M-values are presented qualitatively. As a general overview of the results, Table 6 lists the number of strong and medium binders in the analyzed proteins, for the groups of HLA class II receptors corresponding to the DRB1, DQ, DP and DRB3/4/5 genes. Counting was done separately for strong and medium affinity binders. Peptides binding to multiple allotypes of the same group were counted as one. Values between brackets refer to germline-filtered peptides. In Table 7, the sequence is shown in a format suitable for experimental work. The sequence is broken down in consecutive 15-mers overlapping by 12 residues. For each 15-mer, the promiscuity is listed (the number of allotypes out of a total of 47 for which the 15-mer contains a critical binder), as well as the implied serotypes. The EPIBASE® profile and epitope maps are shown in FIGS. 41A-41C and 42.

It was concluded that IGKV1-39 contains no strong non-self DRB1 binders. Typically, significantly more binders were found for DRB1 than for other HLA genes. This is in agreement with experimental evidence that allotypes belonging to the DRB1 group are more potent peptide binders. Medium strength epitopes for DRB1 allotypes are expected to contribute to the population response, and cannot be disregarded. Again, no non-self DRB1 binders were found in IGKV1-39.

In the humoral response raised against an antigen, the observed T_(H) cell activation/proliferation is generally interpreted in terms of the DRB1 specificity. However, one cannot ignore the possible contribution of the DRB3/4/5, DQ and DP genes. Given the lower expression levels of these genes as compared to DRB1, the focus was on the class of strong epitopes for DRB3/4/5, DQ and DP. “Critical epitopes” are those epitopes that are strong binders for any DRB1, DRB3/4/5, DQ or DP allotype or are medium binders for DRB1. IGKV1-39 contains no strong or medium non-self binders for DRB3/4/5, DQ, or DP.

A number of peptides are also present in germline sequences (values between brackets in Table 6). Such peptides may very well bind to HLA but they are assumed to be self and, hence, non-immunogenic. In total, six strong and 16 medium germline-filtered DRB1 binders were found in IGKV1-39. Framework region 1 up to framework region 3 is an exact match for germline V-segment VKI 2-1-(1) O12 (VBase), a.k.a. IGKV1-39*01 (IMGT). Framework region 4 is an exact match for germline J-segment JK1 (V-base) a.k.a. IGKJ1*01(IMGT). It is hardly surprising that these segments do not contain any non-self epitopes.

Example 39: Production Characteristics of IGKV1-39

There is a great demand for antibody discovery platforms that yield therapeutic antibodies that are thermodynamically stable and give good expression yields. These characteristics are important in ensuring the stability of the drug substance during production and after injection of the drug product into the patient. In addition good expression yields impact directly on the cost of drug manufacture and thus pricing, patient access and profitability. Virtually all therapeutic antibodies in clinical use today are composed of human IgG1 and kappa constant regions but use different heavy and light chain variable regions that confer specificity. Human variable heavy and light chain domains can be divided into families that have greater than 80% sequence divergence. When rearranged examples of these families in germline configuration are combined and compared for stability and yield it is clear that the gene families are not equal in terms of biophysical properties. In particular V_(H)3, V_(H)1 and V_(H)5 have favourable stability for the heavy chains and Vk1 and Vk3 have the best stability and yield of light chains. In addition when mutations are introduced as part of the somatic hypermutation process they can interfere with V_(H)/V_(L) pairing. To assess the effect that different light chain genes with different rates of mutation have on the production characteristics of a fixed V_(H) chain, a Fab phage display library was built of light chains (kappa and lambda) from six naïve healthy donors combined with a panel of 44 TT binding heavy chains from immunized donors. After one round of selection TT binding Fab clones were isolated. Several of these shared the same V_(H) gene as the TT clone PG1433 in combination with different light chains. The Fab light chain fragments were recloned into a kappa expression vector and transfected in combination with DNA encoding the heavy chain of PG1433 into 293 cells and specific IgG production measured by ELISA. As demonstrated in Table 8 the selected clones containing PG1433 V_(H) combined with different light chains had between five- and ten-fold lower protein expression PG1433 V_(H) combined with IGKV1-39. Note that all of the light chains contained amino acid mutations within their coding regions that might disrupt V_(H) paring and reduce production stability. Thus, in addition to reducing the chances of unwanted immunogenicity, it is expected that the use of the light chain IGKV1-39 without mutations contributes to improved production stability and yields of various specificity-contributing V_(H) genes. Indeed stable clones generated by the transfection of different V_(H) genes all paired with IGKV1-39 are able to be passaged extensively and still retain robust production characteristics as shown in Table 9.

Example 40: Generation of Mice Expressing Fully Human VH and VL Regions

Transgenic mice described herein are crossed with mice that already contain a human VH locus. Examples of appropriate mice comprising a human VH locus are disclosed in Taylor et al. (1992), Nucleic Acids Res. 20:6287-95; Lonberg et al. (1994), Nature 368:856-9; Green et al. (1994), Nat. Genet. 7:13-21; Dechiara et al. (2009), Methods Mol. Biol. 530:311-24).

After crossing and selecting for mice that are at least heterozygous for the IGKV1-39 transgene and the human VH locus, selected mice are immunized with a target. VH genes are harvested as described hereinabove. This method has the advantage that the VH genes are already fully human and thus do not require humanization.

Example 41: Isolation, Characterization, OLIGOCLONICS® Formatting and Production of Antibodies Targeting Human IL6 for Treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Diseases Such as Rheumatoid Arthritis

A spleen VH repertoire from transgenic mice that are immunized with human recombinant IL6 is cloned in a phage display Fab vector with a single human IGKV1-39-C kappa light chain (identical to the mouse transgene) and subjected to panning against the immunogen human IL6. Clones that are obtained after two to four rounds of panning are analyzed for their binding specificity. VH genes encoding IL6-specific Fab fragments are subjected to sequence analysis to identify unique clones and assign VH, DH and JH utilization. The Fab fragments are reformatted as IgG1 molecules and transiently expressed. Unique clones are then grouped based on non-competition in binding assays and subjected to affinity and functional analysis. The most potent anti-IL6 IgG1 mAbs are subsequently expressed as combinations of two, three, four or five heavy chains comprising different VH-regions in the OLIGOCLONICS® format, together with one IGKV1-39-C-based kappa light chain and tested in vitro for complex formation with IL-6. The OLIGOCLONICS® are also tested in vivo for clearance of human IL-6 from mice. An OLIGOCLONICS® with the most potent clearance activity is chosen and the murine VH genes humanized according to conventional methods. The humanized IgG1 are transfected into a mammalian cell line to generate a stable clone. An optimal subclone is selected for the generation of a master cell bank and the generation of clinical trial material.

Many of the protocols described here are standard protocols for the construction of phage display libraries and the panning of phages for binding to an antigen of interest and are described, for example, in Antibody Phage Display: Methods and Protocols (2002), Editor(s) Philippa M. O'Brien, Robert Aitken, Humana Press, Totowa, N.J., US.

Immunizations: Transgenic mice receive three immunizations with human IL6 every two weeks using the adjuvant Sigma titerMax according to manufacturer's instructions.

RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis: Three days after the last immunization, spleens and lymphnodes from the mice are removed and passed through a 70 micron filter into a tube containing PBS pH 7.4 to generate a single cell suspension. After washing and pelleting of lymphocytes, cells are suspended in TRIzol LS Reagent (Invitrogen) for the isolation of total RNA according to the manufacturer's protocol and subjected to reverse transcription reaction using 1 microgram of RNA, Superscript III RT in combination with dT20 according to manufacturer's procedures (Invitrogen).

The generation of Fab phage display libraries is carried out as described in Example 21.

Selection of phages on coated immunotubes: Human recombinant IL6 is dissolved in PBS in a concentration of 5 μg/ml and coated to MaxiSorp Nunc-Immuno Tube (Nunc 444474) overnight at 4° C. After discarding the coating solution, the tubes are blocked with 2% skim milk (ELK) in PBS (blocking buffer) for one hour at Room Temperature (RT). In parallel, 0.5 ml of the phage library is mixed with 1 ml blocking buffer and incubated for 20 minutes at room temperature. After blocking the phages, the phage solution is added to the IL6-coated tubes and incubated for two hours at RT on a slowly rotating platform to allow binding. Next, the tubes are washed ten times with PBS/0.05% TWEEN®-20 followed by phage elution by incubating with 1 ml 50 mM glycine-HCl pH 2.2 ten minutes at RT on rotating wheel and directly followed by neutralization of the harvested eluent with 0.5 ml 1 M Tris-HCl pH 7.5.

Harvesting phage clones: A 5 ml XL1-Blue MRF (Stratagene) culture at O.D. 0.4 is added to the harvested phage solution and incubated for 30 minutes at 37° C. without shaking to allow infection of the phages. Bacteria are plated on Carbenicillin/Tetracycline 4% glucose 2*TY plates and grown overnight at 37° C.

Phage production: Phages are grown and processed as described by Kramer et al. 2003 (Kramer et al. 2003, Nucleic Acids Res. 31(11):e59) using VCSM13 as helper phage strain.

Phage ELISA: ELISA plates are coated with 100 microliters human recombinant IL6 per well at a concentration of 2.5 micrograms/ml in PBS overnight at 4° C. Plates coated with 100 microliters thyroglobulin at a concentration of 2 micrograms/ml in PBS are used as a negative control. Wells are emptied, dried by tapping on a paper towel, filled completely with PBS-4% skimmed milk (ELK) and incubated for one hour at room temperature to block the wells. After discarding the block solution, phage minipreps pre-mixed with 50 μl blocking solution are added and incubated for one hour at RT. Unbound phages are subsequently removed by five washing steps with PBS-0.05% TWEEN®-20. Bound phages are detected by incubating the wells with 100 microliters anti-M13-HRP antibody conjugate (diluted 1/5000 in blocking buffer) for one hour at room temperature. Free antibody is removed by repeating the washing steps as described above, followed by TMB substrate incubation until color development was visible. The reaction is stopped by adding 100 microliters of 2 M H2SO4 per well and analyzed on an ELISA reader at 450 nm emission wavelength.

Sequencing: Clones that give signals at least three times above the background signal are propagated, used for DNA miniprep procedures (see, procedures Qiagen miniPrep manual) and subjected to nucleotide sequence analysis. Sequencing is performed according to the Big Dye 1.1 kit accompanying manual (Applied Biosystems) using a reverse primer (CH1_Rev1, Table 1) recognizing a 5′ sequence of the CH1 region of the human IgG1 heavy chain (present in the Fab display vector MV1043, FIGS. 28 and 37A-37Z). The sequences of the murine VH regions are analyzed for diversity of DH and JH gene segments.

Construction and expression of chimeric IgG1: Vector MV1057 (FIGS. 37A-37Z and 47) was generated by cloning the transgene (IGKV1-39) L chain fragment into a derivative of vector pcDNA3000Neo (Crucell, Leiden, The Netherlands) that contains the human IgG1- and kappa constant regions. VH regions are cloned into MV1057 and nucleotide sequences for all constructs are verified according to standard techniques. The resulting constructs are transiently expressed in HEK293T cells and supernatants containing chimeric IgG1 are obtained and purified using standard procedures as described before (M. Throsby 2006, J. Virol. 80:6982-92).

IgG1 binding and competition analysis: IgG1 antibodies are titrated in ELISA using IL6-coated plates as described above and an anti-human IgG peroxidase conjugate. Competition ELISAs to group antibodies based on epitope recognition are performed by incubating Fab phages together with IgG1 or with commercial antibodies against IL6 (e.g., Abcam cat. no. ab9324) in IL6-coated plates, followed by detection of bound Fab phage using an anti-M13 peroxidase conjugate.

IgG1 affinity measurements: The affinities of the antibodies to IL6 are determined with the Quantitative kinetic protocol on the Octet (ForteBio). Antibodies are captured onto an Anti-Human IgG Fc Capture biosensor and exposed to free IL6 and analyzed using proprietary software to calculate the Kd of each antibody.

Functional activity of IL6 antibodies: To test the ability of the selected antibodies to inhibit binding between IL6 and IL6 receptor (IL6R), an ELISA based assay is used. Various concentrations of antibody are mixed with a fixed concentration (10 ng/ml) of biotinylated IL6 as described by Naoko et al. 2007, Can. Res. 67:817-875. The IL6-antibody immune complex is added to immobilized IL6R. The binding of biotinylated IL6 to IL6R is detected with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated streptavidin. The reduction of ELISA signal is a measurement of inhibition. As positive control for inhibition of binding between IL6 and IL6R either anti-IL6R antibody (Abcam cat. no. ab34351; clone B-R6) or anti IL6 antibody (Abcam cat. no. ab9324) is used.

In vitro blocking activity of the selected anti-IL6 antibodies is measured in a proliferation assay using the IL6-dependent cell line 7TD1. Briefly, cells are incubated with different concentrations of human IL6 with or without the anti-IL6 antibody. The available amount of IL6 determines the degree of proliferation. Thus if an added antibody blocks IL6 binding the proliferation readout is reduced compared to a non binding antibody control. Proliferation is measured by the incorporation of 5-bromo-2′-deoxy-uridine (BrdU) into the DNA using the BrdU proliferation kit (Roche cat. no. 11444611001) according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Generation of anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS®: The most potent anti-IL6 antibodies are selected from each epitope group. The expression constructs expressing these antibodies are transfected into HEK293T cells in non-competing groups of three in different ratios (1:1:1; 3:1:1; 1:3:1; 1:1:3; 3:3:1; 1:3:3; 3:1:3; 10:1:1; 1:10:1; 1:1:10; 10:10:1; 1:10:10; 10:1:10; 3:10:1; 10:3:1; 1:10:3; 3:1:10; 10:1:3; 1:3:10). Antibody containing supernatants are harvested and purified and characterized as above.

Complex formation and in vivo clearance of anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS®: To measure the ability of anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS® to form immune complexes and to analyze these complexes Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) is used according to the approach disclosed by Min-Soo Kim et al. (2007), JMB 374:1374-1388, to characterize the immune-complexes formed with different antibodies to TNFα. Different molar ratios of the anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS® are mixed with human IL6 and incubated for 20 hours at 4° C. or 25° C. The mixture is analyzed on an HPLC system fitted with a size exclusion column; different elution times are correlated to molecular weight using a molecular weight standards.

The ability of antibodies to form complexes with IL6 is correlated with their ability to rapidly clear the cytokine from the circulation in vivo. This is confirmed by measuring the clearance of radiolabelled IL6 from mice. Briefly, female, six- to eight-week-old Balb/c mice are obtained and 18 hours before the experiment, the animals are injected intravenously (IV) via the lateral tail vein with different doses of purified anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS®. On day 0, the mice are injected IV with 50 microliters of radiolabeled IL-6 (1×10E7 cpm/mL) under the same conditions. Blood samples (approximately 50 microliters) are collected at several time intervals and stored at 4° C. The samples are centrifuged for five minutes at 4000×g and the radioactivity of the serum determined. All pharmacokinetic experiments are performed simultaneously with three animals for each treatment.

Generation of anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS® stable clones and preclinical development: A lead anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS® is selected based on the in vitro and in vivo potency as determined above. The murine VH genes are humanized according to standard methods and combined with the fully human IGKV1-39 light chain in an expression vector as described above. Examples of humanization methods include those based on paradigms such as resurfacing (E. A. Padlan et al. (1991), Mol. Immunol. 28:489), superhumanization (P. Tan, D. A., et al. (2002), J. Immunol. 169:1119) and human string content optimization (G. A. Lazar et al. (2007), Mol. Immunol. 44:1986). The three constructs are transfected into PER.C6® cells at the predetermined optimal ratio (described above) under the selective pressure of G418 according to standard methods. A stable high producing anti-IL6 OLIGOCLONICS® clone is selected and a working and qualified master cell bank generated.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/931,955, filed Feb. 14, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/292,414, filed Nov. 30, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,919,257, which is a continuation of PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/NL2004/000386, filed on May 28, 2004, designating the United States of America, and published in English, as PCT International Publication No. WO 2004/106375 A1 on Dec. 9, 2004, which application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 03076671.1 filed on May 30, 2003, are incorporated herein by this reference.

TABLE 1 List of primers DO- Primer Sequence 0012 CH_Rev1 TGCCAGGGGGAAGACCGATG (SEQ ID NO: 4) 0656 MVH-1 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTRMAGCTTCAGGAGTCAGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 5) 0657 MVH-2 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTSCAGCTKCAGCAGTCAGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 6) 0658 MVH-3 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTGCAGCTGAAGSASTCAGG (SEQ ID NO: 7) 0659 MVH-4 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTGCAGCTTCAGGAGTCSGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 8) 0660 MVH-5 GCCGGCCATGGCCGARGTCCAGCTGCAACAGTCYGGAC (SEQ ID NO: 9) 0661 MVH-6 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTCCAGCTKCAGCAATCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 10) 0662 MVH-7 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGSTBCAGCTGCAGCAGTCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 11) 0663 MVH-8 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTYCAGCTGCAGCAGTCTGGRC (SEQ ID NO: 12) 0664 MVH-9 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTYCAGCTYCAGCAGTCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 13) 0665 MVH-10 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTCCARCTGCAACAATCTGGACC (SEQ ID NO: 14) 0666 MVH-11 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTCCACGTGAAGCAGTCTGGG (SEQ ID NO: 15) 0667 MVH-12 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTGAASSTGGTGGAATCTG (SEQ ID NO: 16) 0668 MVH-13 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAVGTGAAGYTGGTGGAGTCTG (SEQ ID NO: 17) 0669 MVH-14 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTGCAGSKGGTGGAGTCTGGGG (SEQ ID NO: 18) 0670 MVH-15 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAKGTGCAMCTGGTGGAGTCTGGG (SEQ ID NO: 19) 0671 MVH-16 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTGAAGCTGATGGARTCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 20) 0672 MVH-17 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTGCARCTTGTTGAGTCTGGTG (SEQ ID NO: 21) 0673 MVH-18 GCCGGCCATGGCCGARGTRAAGCTTCTCGAGTCTGGA (SEQ ID NO: 22) 0674 MVH-19 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAAGTGAARSTTGAGGAGTCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 23) 0675 MVH-20 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAAGTGATGCTGGTGGAGTCTGGG (SEQ ID NO: 24) 0676 MVH-21 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTTACTCTRAAAGWGTSTGGCC (SEQ ID NO: 25) 0677 MVH-22 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTCCAACTVCAGCARCCTGG (SEQ ID NO:2 6) 0678 MVH-23 GCCGGCCATGGCCCAGGTYCARCTGCAGCAGTCTG (SEQ ID NO: 27) 0679 MVH-24 GCCGGCCATGGCCGATGTGAACTTGGAAGTGTCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 28) 0680 MVH-25 GCCGGCCATGGCCGAGGTGAAGGTCATCGAGTCTGG (SEQ ID NO: 29) 0681 ExtMVH-1 CAGTCACAGATCCTCGCGAATTGGCCCA

ATGGCCSANG (SEQ ID NO: 30) 0682 ExtMVH-2 CAGTCACAGATCCTCGCGAATTGGCCCA

ATGGCCSANC (SEQ ID NO: 31) 0683 MJH-Rev1 GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 GTGG (SEQ ID NO: 32) 0684 MJH-Rev2 GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 GTGG (SEQ ID NO: 33) 0685 MJH-Rev3 GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGCAGAGAC 

 AGAG (SEQ ID NO: 34) 0686 MJH-Rev4 GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 GAGG (SEQ ID NO: 35) 0687 ExtMJH-Rev1& GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 GTGG (SEQ ID NO: 36) 0688 ExtMJH-Rev2in GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 GTGG (SEQ ID NO: 37) 0690 ExtMJH-Rev3 GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 AGAG (SEQ ID NO: 38) 0691 ExtMJH-Rev4 GGGGGTGTCGTTTTGGCTGAGGAGAC 

 GAGG (SEQ ID NO: 39)

TABLE 2 Phage ELISA signal levels as measured at 450 nm. TT-coated plates represent plates that were coated with tetanus toxoid. Thyroglobulin-coated plates are used as negative controls. 10/10 and 15/15 indicate the number of wash steps with PBS-Tween ® during panning procedures. The 10/10 tetanus toxoid and 10/10 thyroglobulin plates and the 15/15 tetanus toxoid and 15/15 thyroglobulin plates are duplicates from each other except for the coating agent. OD values higher than three times the background are assumed specific. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TT-coated plate 10/10 washings A 0.139 0.093 0.089 0.121 0.117 0.598 0.146 0.115 0.18 0.155 0.543 0.601 B 0.136 0.404 0.159 0.187 0.489 0.134 0.216 0.092 0.222 0.108 0.181 0.484 C 0.197 0.526 0.09 0.213 0.395 0.155 0.108 0.12 0.183 0.136 0.092 0.866 D 0.143 0.258 0.101 0.422 0.088 0.243 0.485 0.251 0.304 0.198 0.478 0.091 E 0.445 0.169 0.526 0.481 0.206 0.285 0.111 0.119 0.128 0.2 0.118 0.098 F 0.237 0.291 0.594 0.139 0.206 0.565 0.543 0.091 0.136 0.227 0.228 0.099 G 0.459 0.102 0.152 0.659 0.203 0.452 0.152 0.133 0.094 0.102 0.375 0.098 H 0.341 0.623 0.745 0.415 0.682 0.527 0.655 0.114 0.258 0.284 0.685 0.113 TT-coated plate 15/15 washings A 0.247 0.582 0.421 0.428 0.133 0.082 0.262 0.079 0.343 0.414 0.095 0.292 B 0.065 0.364 0.073 0.042 0.049 0.071 0.046 0.103 0.078 0.057 0.048 0.155 C 0.081 0.044 0.066 0.082 0.225 0.444 0.203 0.362 0.122 0.047 0.052 0.309 D 0.092 0.11 0.59 0.22 0.33 0.544 0.058 0.159 0.047 0.174 0.086 0.05 E 0.469 0.577 0.206 0.304 0.13 0.749 0.431 0.062 0.167 0.049 0.056 0.049 F 0.846 0.07 0.561 0.656 0.882 0.094 0.383 0.13 0.152 0.098 0.134 0.048 G 0.537 0.052 0.49 0.105 0.337 0.193 0.514 0.294 0.068 0.35 0.525 0.05 H 0.061 0.306 0.157 0.853 0.054 0.534 0.102 0.235 0.441 0.412 0.565 0.061 Thyroglobulin-coated plate 10/10 washings A 0.047 0.051 0.045 0.043 0.051 0.044 0.046 0.042 0.047 0.048 0.049 0.05 B 0.042 0.042 0.042 0.042 0.043 0.041 0.041 0.042 0.043 0.045 0.042 0.046 C 0.044 0.043 0.043 0.044 0.043 0.044 0.043 0.042 0.043 0.041 0.044 0.046 D 0.045 0.044 0.044 0.044 0.045 0.046 0.045 0.056 0.045 0.049 0.048 0.73 E 0.046 0.045 0.046 0.044 0.045 0.044 0.044 0.044 0.047 0.046 0.047 0.926 F 0.048 0.045 0.044 0.046 0.044 0.043 0.044 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.792 G 0.051 0.048 0.045 0.045 0.044 0.043 0.048 0.045 0.048 0.051 0.045 0.053 H 0.064 0.05 0.049 0.047 0.05 0.051 0.047 0.046 0.047 0.047 0.047 0.056 Thyroglobulin-coated plate 15/15 washings A 0.036 0.049 0.045 0.044 0.046 0.047 0.046 0.042 0.042 0.043 0.042 0.041 B 0.045 0.042 0.041 0.043 0.043 0.043 0.045 0.045 0.047 0.048 0.044 0.045 C 0.049 0.047 0.047 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.045 0.047 0.046 0.045 0.045 0.052 D 0.047 0.049 0.048 0.048 0.048 0.048 0.047 0.052 0.048 0.046 0.048 0.456 E 0.049 0.047 0.047 0.047 0.047 0.049 0.047 0.048 0.047 0.046 0.048 0.412 F 0.05 0.047 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.046 0.047 0.048 0.528 G 0.05 0.048 0.045 0.045 0.046 0.049 0.048 0.046 0.053 0.049 0.05 0.057 H 0.057 0.05 0.046 0.045 0.047 0.049 0.047 0.047 0.046 0.047 0.053 0.048

TABLE 3 Protein sequence analysis of ELISA positive tetanus toxoid binders. CDR3 sequence, CDR3 length, VH family members and specific name, JH origin and DH origin of the clones is indicated. CDR3  V Gene CDR3/SEQ ID NO: length VH DH JH family HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAYYTYDEKAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 40) 15 musIGHV192 DSP2.11 JH3 mouse VH7183 HGAFYTYDEKPWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 41) 15 musIGHV192 IGHD2-14*01 JH3 mouse VH7183 HISYYRYDEEVSFAY (SEQ ID NO: 42) 15 musIGHV192 IGHD2-14*01 JH3 mouse VH7183 HISYYRYDEEVSFAY (SEQ ID NO: 42) 15 musIGHV192 IGHD2-14*01 JH3 mouse VH7183 GWRAFAY (SEQ ID NO: 43)  7 musIGHV131 DSP2.9 JH3 mouse VH7183 GWRAFAY (SEQ ID NO: 43)  7 musIGHV131 DSP2.9 JH3 mouse VH7183 GWRAFAY (SEQ ID NO: 43)  7 musIGHV131 DSP2.9 JH3 mouse VH7183 DRGNYYGMDY (SEQ ID NO: 44) 10 musIGHV178 DSP2.1 JH4 mouse VH7183 LGDYYVDWFFAV (SEQ ID NO: 45) 12 musIGHV165 DFL16.1 JH1 mouse VH7183 NFPAWFAF (SEQ ID NO: 46)  8 musIGHV547 DST4.3inv JH3 mouse VJH558 NFPAWFAY (SEQ ID NO: 46)  8 musIGHV547 DSP2.1 JH3 mouse VJH558 NFPAWFVY (SEQ ID NO: 46)  8 musIGHV547 DSP2.1 JH3 mouse VJH558 SFTPVPFYYGYDWYFDV (SEQ ID NO: 47) 17 musIGHV532 DSP2.3 JH1 mouse VJH558 SFTPVPFYYGYDWYFDV (SEQ ID NO: 47) 17 musIGHV532 DSP2.3 JH1 mouse VJH558 SDYDWYFDV (SEQ ID NO: 48)  9 musIGHV286 DSP2.2 JH1 mouse VJH558 SDYDWYFDV (SEQ ID NO: 48)  9 musIGHV286 DSP2.2 JH1 mouse VJH558 DSKWAYYFDY (SEQ ID NO: 49) 10 musIGHV532 DST4.3 JH2 mouse VJH558 GDYTGYGMDY (SEQ ID NO: 50) 10 musIGHV125 DSP2.13 JH4 mouse VHSM7 GDYTGYGMDY (SEQ ID NO: 50) 10 musIGHV125 DSP2.13 JH4 mouse VHSM7 GGYDGYWFPY (SEQ ID NO: 51) 10 musIGHV125 DSP2.9 JH3 mouse VHSM7

TABLE 4 Vector combinations that were transfected to HEK293T. Combined Conc. Code HC vector LC vector vector Prep name (μg/ml) A x 0817676_pSELECT_0815426 x PIGKV1-39/ — (IGKV1-39) P1 B x 0817678_pSELECT_0815427 x PIGLV2-14/ — (IGLV2-14) P1 C MV1110 0817676_pSELECT_0815426 x PMV1110/ 11.0 (IGKV1-39) IGKV1-39/P1 D MV1110 0817678_pSELECT_0815427 x PMV1110/ 15.4 (IGLV2-14) IGLV2-14/P1 E x x MG1494 MG1494/P2 16.1

TABLE 5 HLA allotypes considered in T_(H)-epitope profiling. The corresponding serotypes are shown, as well as allotype frequencies in the Caucasian population (Klitz et al. (2003), Tissue Antigens 62: 296-307; Gjertson and Terasake (eds) in: HLA 1997; Gjertson and Terasake (eds) in: HLA 1998; Castelli et al. (2002), J. Immunol. 169: 6928-6934). Frequencies can add up to more than 100% since each individual has two alleles for each gene. If all allele frequencies of a single gene were known, they would add up to slightly less than 200% due to homozygous individuals. HLA type Serotype Population % DRB1*0101 DR1 17.4 DRB1*0102 DR1 4.9 DRB1*0301 DR17(3) 21.2 DRB1*0401 DR4 11.5 DRB1*0402 DR4 3.1 DRB1*0404 DR4 5.5 DRB1*0405 DR4 2.2 DRB1*0407 DR4 <2 DRB1*0701 DR7 23.4 DRB1*0801 DR8 3.3 DRB1*0802 DR8 <2 DRB1*0901 DR9 <2 DRB1*1101 DR11(5) 17 DRB1*1104 DR11(5) 5.7 DRB1*1201 DR12(5) 3.1 DRB1*1301 DR13(6) 15.4 DRB1*1302 DR13(6) 10.8 DRB1*1401 DR14(6) 4.2 DRB1*1501 DR15(2) 13.2 DRB1*1601 DR16(2) 5.5 DRB3*0101 DR52 24.6 DRB3*0202 DR52 43 DRB3*0301 DR52 10 DRB4*0101 DR53 25.5 DRB4*0103 DR53 21 DRB5*0101 DR51 15.8 DRB5*0202 DR51 5.7 DQA1*0101/DQB1*0501 DQ5(1) 20.5 DQA1*0102/DQB1*0502 DQ5(1) 2.6 DQA1*0102/DQB1*0602 DQ6(1) 26.5 DQA1*0102/DQB1*0604 DQ6(1) 6.7 DQA1*0103/DQB1*0603 DQ6(1) 11 DQA1*0104/DQB1*0503 DQ5(1) 4 DQA1*0201/DQB1*0202 DQ2 20.9 DQA1*0201/DQB1*0303 DQ9(3) 7.2 DQA1*0301/DQB1*0301 DQ7(3) 12.5 DQA1*0301/DQB1*0302 DQ8(3) 18.3 DQA1*0401/DQB1*0402 DQ4 4.5 DQA1*0501/DQB1*0201 DQ2 24.6 DQA1*0501/DQB1*0301 DQ7(3) 20.9 DPA1*0103/DPB1*0201 DPw2 19.9 DPA1*0103/DPB1*0401 DPw4 65.1 DPA1*0103/DPB1*0402 DPw4 24.3 DPA1*0201/DPB1*0101 DPw1 6.3 DPA1*0201/DPB1*0301 DPw3 <2 DPA1*0201/DPB1*0501 DPw5 <2 DPA1*0201/DPB1*0901 — 2.4

TABLE 6 T_(H) epitope counts for IGKV1-39. Peptides binding to multiple HLAs of the same group (DRB1, DRB3/4/5, DP, DQ) are counted as one. Values between brackets refer to germline-filtered peptides. DRB1 DRB3/4/5 DQ DP Strong Medium Strong Medium Strong Medium Strong Medium Merus IGKV1-39 0 (+6) 0 (+16) 0 (+0) 0 (+5) 0 (+3) 0 (+9) 0 (+0) 0 (+9)

TABLE 7 Mapping of EPIBASE ® predictions for Mercus IGKVI-39 in the classical 15-mer peptide format. This table shows the allotype count of critical epitopes (SEQ ID NOs: 52-83) and implicated serotypes for each of the 15-mers spanning the Merus IGKVI-39 sequence. Start Allotype 15mer position 15-mer sequence count Implicated serotypes  1  1 DIQMTQSPSSLSASV  6 DR1, DR4, DR7, DR9  2  4 MTQSPSSLSASVGDR  5 DR1, DR4, DR9  3  7 SPSSLSASVGDRVTI  0  4 10 SLSASBGDRYTITCR  0  5 13 ASVGDRVTITCRASQ  0  6 16 GDRVTITCRASQSIS  2 DR11(5), DR7  7 19 VTITCRASQSISSYL  4 DQ2, DR11(5), SR4, DR7  8 22 TCRASQSISSYLNWY  2 DQ2, DR4  9 25 ASQSISSYLNWYQQK  5 DR13(6), DR15(2), DR4 10 28 SISSYLNWYQQKPGK  8 DR12(5), DR13(6), DR15(2), DR16(2), DR4, DR8 11 31 SYLNWYQQKPGKAPK 10 DR1, DR12(5), DR16(2), DR4, DR51, DR8 12 34 NWYQQKPGKAPKLLI  9 DR1, DR15(2), DR4, DR51, DR8 13 37 QQKPGKAPKLLIYAA  7 DQ4, DR1, DR11(5), DR15(2), DR51, DR8 14 40 PGKAPKLLIYAASSL  7 DQ4, DR1, DR11(5), DR4, DR8 15 43 APKLLIYAASSLQSG 15 DR1, DR11(5), DR12(5), DR13(6), DR14(6),  DR15(2), DR4, DR51, DR8, DR9 16 46 LLIYAASSLQSGVPS 15 DR1, DR11(5), DR12(5), DR13(6), DR14(6),  DR15(2), DR4, DR51, DR8, DR9 17 49 YAASSLQSGVPSRFS  1 DR15(2) 18 52 SSLQSGVPSRFSGSG  1 DR15(2) 19 55 QSGVPSRFSGSGSGT  0 20 58 VPSRFSGSGSGTDFT  0 21 61 RFSGSGSGTDFTLTI  0 22 64 GSGSGTDFTLTISSL  1 DR52 23 67 SGTDFTLTISSLQPE  4 DR4, DR52, DR7, DR9 24 70 DFTLTISSLQPEDFA  4 DQ2, DR4, DR7, DR9 25 73 LTISSLQPEDFATYY  1 DQ2 26 76 SSLQPEDFATYYCQQ  0 27 79 QPEDFATYYCQQSYS  1 DR4 28 82 DFATYYCQQSYSTPP  5 DR4, DR51, DR7 29 85 TYYCQQSYSTPPTFG  4 DR4, DR51, DR7 30 88 CQQSYSTPPTFGQGT  0 31 91 SYSTFFTFGQGTKVE  0 32 94 TPPTFGQGTKVEIK  0

TABLE 8 The V_(H) gene from PG1433 paired with various light chain genes with differing rates of amino acid mutation were compared for production levels with the original clone containing the IGKV1-39 gene. Number of Light chain amino acid concentration IgG name gene mutations (μg/ml) PG1433 1-39 0 63, 45.5, 38.6 (avg = 49) PG1631 1-12 4 10.5 PG1632 1-27 7 9.3 PG1634 1D-12 10 10.8 PG1635 1D-33 6 10.2 PG1642 1-5 8 7.1 PG1644 1-9 3 7.8 PG1650 1D-39 3 9.1 PG1652 2D-28 3 7.1 PG1653 3-15 14 7 PG1654 3-20 2 5.2 PG1674 1-40 7 8.2 PG1678 2-11 2 8.1 PG1680 2-14 15 10.8 PG1682 3-1 13 9.9 PG1683 6-57 6 13.9

TABLE 9 Parameters of stability for stable clones containing the germline IGKV1-39 gene. Culture Batch Maximum IVC at days at Avg pdt in started at viable cell maximum IgG start previous population density (×10⁶ concentration Subclone batch run 14 days ±SD % avg doublings cells/ml) % avg (10⁹ cells/hr/L) % avg B38.1 21 35 5.1 99 15 3 91 530 92 40 41 1.3 115 31 3.7 112 568 99 79 36 0.2 101 62 3.2 97 627 109 avg 36 3.3 575 B38.4 21 35 1 101 15 2.2 114 424 134 40 35 0.3 101 29 1.9 98 247 78 79 34 0.2 99 59 1.7 88 278 88 avg 35 1.9 316 B38.15 21 35 1.6 106 16 2.5 90 497 101 40 32 0.3 97 30 3.7 134 557 114 79 31 0.2 94 63 2.1 76 415 85 avg 33 2.8 490 B38.30 21 38 9.2 97 15 1.6 81 335 89 40 51 2.7 131 30 2.7 137 472 125 79 40 0.7 103 64 1.6 81 325 86 avg 39 2.0 377 B224.18 23 34 2.6 100 17 3.1 103 507 103 42 37 0.7 109 33 3.6 120 575 117 81 34 0.2 100 63 2.3 77 393 80 avg 34 3.0 492 B224.47 23 32 0.4 102 17 3.5 98 695 109 42 33 0.3 105 31 3.6 101 578 91 81 31 0.2 98 64 3.5 101 634 100 avg 32 3.6 636 B224.53 23 33 0.5 100 17 3.9 110 553 99 42 32 0.4 97 33 3.7 105 605 108 81 33 0.1 100 63 3 85 525 94 avg 33 3.5 561 B224.59 23 36 0.6 104 16 4.3 115 750 107 42 34 0.2 99 30 4.4 118 779 111 81 33 0.3 96 61 2.5 67 583 83 avg 35 3.7 704 B280.3 23 34 0.8 105 17 4.3 105 840 108 42 32 0.4 98 33 4 98 841 108 81 31 0.1 95 67 4 98 660 85 avg 33 4.1 780 B280.12 23 36 1.7 104 15 2 72 426 77 42 37 0.7 107 30 3.2 116 673 122 81 33 0.2 96 64 3.1 112 552 100 avg 35 2.8 550 B280.21 23 32 0.6 102 18 3.1 103 550 97 42 31 0.4 98 34 3.4 113 589 104 81 31 0.4 98 66 2.5 83 566 100 avg 32 3.0 568 B280.36 23 33 1 99 17 3 81 596 75 42 36 0.5 107 30 4.6 124 1168 146 81 34 0.3 101 62 3.5 95 635 79 avg 34 3.7 800 Culture days at Maximum IgG start qAb concentration Correlation correlation correlation Subclone batch run (pg/cell/day) % avg (mg/L) % avg TF FH TH B38.1 21 9.5 97 122 79 0.99 0.95 0.92 40 10.5 107 188 122 1 0.99 0.99 79 9.4 96 154 100 0.97 0.99 0.96 avg 9.8 155 B38.4 21 14.2 116 141 127 1 0.96 0.97 40 12.5 102 96 86 1 1 1 79 9.9 81 97 87 0.99 1 0.99 avg 12.2 111 B38.15 21 7.9 99 97 93 0.99 0.95 0.93 40 7.3 91 114 109 1 0.97 0.97 79 8.8 110 102 98 0.96 0.96 0.99 avg 8 104 B38.30 21 14.5 112 100 71 0.99 1 0.99 40 13.9 107 206 147 1 0.99 0.99 79 10.6 82 114 81 0.98 0.98 0.99 avg 13 140 B224.18 23 15.8 98 208 81 1 0.99 0.99 42 18.1 112 318 124 1 0.94 0.95 81 14.6 90 244 95 1 1 0.99 avg 16.2 257 B224.47 23 22.5 114 387 122 0.99 0.93 0.89 42 20 101 357 112 0.99 0.92 0.95 81 16.8 85 209 66 1 0.99 0.99 avg 19.8 318 B224.53 23 20.6 102 372 114 0.98 0.82 0.85 42 24.3 121 379 116 0.98 0.88 0.94 81 15.4 77 231 71 0.99 0.89 0.94 avg 20.1 327 B224.59 23 16.4 106 301 104 0.99 0.78 0.84 42 14.6 95 344 119 0.98 0.92 0.96 81 15.2 99 224 77 0.97 0.99 0.96 avg 15.4 290 B280.3 23 13 109 293 117 0.99 0.98 0.95 42 12.3 103 292 116 0.99 0.98 0.98 81 10.5 88 169 67 0.99 0.98 1 avg 11.9 251 B280.12 23 5.8 95 64 81 0.98 0.98 0.98 42 6.2 101 96 121 1 0.97 0.97 81 6.4 104 78 98 0.98 0.98 0.98 avg 6.1 79 B280.21 23 9.1 128 112 93 0.97 0.92 0.93 42 3.6 51 137 113 1 0.98 0.99 81 8.6 121 114 94 0.97 0.99 1 avg 7.1 121 B280.36 23 10 186 143 156 1 0.99 0.98 42 5.6 104 124 135 1 0.98 0.97 81 0.56 10 8 9 0.97 0.98 1 avg 5.4 92

TABLE 10 Antibody mixtures used for staining of lymphocyte populations. Stainings Mixtures Facs Work 1st 2nd 3rd Final # tubes # Monoclonal dilution volume step step step diltion A Spleen 1 1-8 CD21^(FITC) 640 320 0.50 Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 2.00 CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 640 0.50 CD23^(PE-Cy7) 50 1:20 6.40 1000 DAPI Ckappa mouse^(BIO-APC) 100 1:50 3.20 APC 5000 Clambda mouse^(BIO-APC) 100 1:30 3.20 APC 3000 B220^(Alex-700) 160 2.00 FC block 400 0.80 Spleen 2  9-16 IgD^(FITC) 640 640 1.00 BM 17-24 Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 4.00 CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 500 1.28 IgM^(PE-Cy7) 640 1.00 DAPI Ckappa mouse^(BIO-APC) 100 1:50 6.40 APC 5000 Clambda mouse^(BIO-APC) 100 1:30 6.40 APC 3000 B220^(Alex-700) 160 4.00 FC block 400 1.60 Spleen 3 25-32 Ckappa mouse^(FITC) 400 320 0.80 Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 2.00 CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 500 0.64 IgM^(PE-Cy7) 640 0.50 DAPI Clambda mouse^(BIO-APC) 100 1:30 3.20 APC 3000 B220^(Alex-700) 160 2.00 FC block 400 0.80 Spleen 4 33-40 Ckappa mouse^(FITC) 400 640 1.60 41-48 lambda^(FITC) 600 1.07 PP Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 4.00 CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 500 1.28 IgM^(PE-Cy7) 640 1.00 DAPI IgD^(A647) 1280 0.50 B220^(Alex-700) 160 4.00 PNA^(BIO-SAV-APC-Cy7) 300 2.13 APC-Cy7 FC block 400 1.60 PC 5 49-56 IgM^(FITC) 160 320 2.00 Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 2.00 CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 500 0.64 Ckappa mouse^(BIO-PE-Cy7) 100 1:50 3.20 PE-Cy7 5000 Clambda mouse^(BIO-PE-Cy7) 100 1:30 3.20 PE-Cy7 3000 DAPI CD5^(APC) 320 1.00 B200^(Alex-700) 160 2.00 FC block 400 0.80 BM 6 57-64 IgM^(FITC) 160 640 4.00 Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 4.00 CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 500 1.28 Ckappa mouse^(BIO-PE-Cy7) 100 1:50 6.40 PE-Cy7 5000 Clambda mouse^(BIO-PE-Cy7) 100 1:30 6.40 PE-Cy7 3000 DAPI CD25^(APC) 80 8.00 B220^(Alex-700) 160 4.00 FC block 400 1.60 RAT spleen 7 144 Ckappa rat^(PE) 160 80 0.5 rat B220^(FITC) 160 0.5 Spleen 8  97-104 cyt CD3^(FITC) 320 320 1 cyt Ckappa rat^(PE) 80 4.00 cyt CD11c^(PE-TexasRED) 75 4.27 cyt NK1.1^(BIO-PE-Cy7) 200 1.6 PE-Cy7 cyt CD19^(PerCP-Cy5.5) 320 1 cyt CD4^(APC) 500 0.64 cyt CD11b^(Alex-700) 50 6.40 BM = bone marrow, PC = peritoneal cavity, PP = Peyer's patches.

TABLE 11 Numbers of lymphocytes harvested from the bone marrow and spleen of wild-type and transgenic mice *10e6/ml Total vol Total cells cells (ml) *10⁶ Bone Marrow Wt 18.82 5.05 95.0 Wt 19.24 4.96 95.4 CD19-Cre 23.42 5.08 119.0 CD19-Cre 20.58 4.82 99.2 CD19-Cre 25.77 5.15 132.7 CD19-Cre/HuVk1 17.71 5.06 89.6 CD19-Cre/HuVk1 12.60 5.33 67.2 CD19-Cre/HuVk1 18.13 5.27 95.5 Spleen Wt 41.70 5.36 223.5 Wt 37.85 4.71 178.3 CD19-Cre 60.19 3.77 226.9 CD19-Cre 35.06 3.66 128.3 CD19-Cre 80.69 4.60 371.2 CD19-Cre/HuVk1 51.67 4.48 231.5 CD19-Cre/HuVk1 58.80 6.24 366.9 CD19-Cre/HuVk1 24.37 6.25 152.3 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for selecting a single recombinant cell that expresses at least a bispecific antibody, or antibody fragment thereof, the method comprising: providing recombinant cells comprising at least two different heavy chain variable regions and a light chain variable region, wherein the at least two different heavy chain variable regions are encoded by nucleic acid sequences obtained from a transgenic non-human animal, and wherein the light chain variable region is able to functionally pair with more than one heavy chain variable region, pairing of the variable regions and secretion of the paired variable regions from the recombinant cells resulting in the production of the bispecific antibody, and selecting a single recombinant cell from the recombinant cells that produces a bispecific antibody that binds two target epitopes, wherein the light chain variable region comprises a V and J consisting of germline sequences encoded by a human immunoglobulin light chain V gene segment joined to a human immunoglobulin light chain J gene segment.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the two target epitopes are associated with a disease and/or disorder.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the light chain variable region able to functionally pair with more than one heavy chain variable region does not significantly contribute to the resulting binding specificity of the resulting paired regions.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recombinant cells comprise at least four variable regions.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the heavy chain variable regions and the light chain variable region are part of one single chain Fv.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the single recombinant cell expresses at least a bispecific antibody and a monospecific antibody.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sequence encoding the light chain variable region is obtained from the transgenic non-human animal.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein a first heavy chain variable region is obtained by immunizing a first non-human animal with a first target epitope of the two target epitopes and wherein a second heavy chain variable region is obtained by immunizing a second non-human animal with a second target epitope of the two target epitopes.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the genome of the transgenic non-human animal comprises a transgene comprising a human immunoglobulin light chain V gene segment joined to a human immunoglobulin light chain J gene segment, wherein the joined human V/J gene segment encodes a human immunoglobulin light chain variable region, and wherein the transgenic non-human animal, in response to exposure to a target epitope, produces antibodies with immunoglobulin light chains comprising the human light chain variable region encoded by the transgene and a light chain constant region, paired with a diversity of immunoglobulin heavy chains which bind the target epitope.
 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transgenic non-human animal is a murine animal.
 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transgenic non-human animal is a mouse.
 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recombinant cells comprise two different heavy chain variable regions.
 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recombinant cells comprise four variable regions.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the recombinant cells comprise a common light chain variable region. 